Spiked Out
by Asori
Summary: Everyone knows that when Spike comes out to play, things will get interesting; there's no doubt about that. But this time Spike takes it too far, and the Davenport-Dooley family must come to terms with it, not the least of them being Chase. He must re-evaluate himself, and his roller-coaster of a journey is one that can't be forgotten.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello peeps, Asori here. This is my first post in a long time, my first post ever for Lab Rats. I am excited to share this with you all, and I hope you enjoy this story.**

**Some things you may want to note: this is slightly AU and takes place during the second season, there are _definitely_ more characters than listed, and while it does have action scenes (and resulting injuries) as well as some mature self-discovery themes, it is guaranteed clean and the rating is no higher than K+. Oh, and I've made a point of adding plenty of comic relief in the style of the TV show, so feel free to laugh. If there is anything else you may wish to know, check out my (chaotic) profile, and hopefully your questions will be answered. If not, send me a PM. I like making friends.**

**I will try to update this pretty regularly (every-few-days-ish), I promise that there won't be many ANs, and so that the story is cohesive and is at its full potential, it is pre-written (and fairly good, if I do say so myself). Please feel free to rate and review; like many of you, I to am an aspiring author.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats or any of the characters, just the plot.**

**Anywho, enjoy!**

* * *

"Alright guys, today we are going to try something different," Mr. Davenport began, commanding the attention of his adopted children(/science projects, if he must be honest). The three who were participating in the daily training (the bionics), Adam, Bree, and Chase, looked to their father figure with an equal measure of curiosity and boredom; clearly they did not expect much. Leo, their step-brother and Mr. Davenport's step-son, didn't even look up from the gadget he was fiddling with.

"You all know about Chase's commando app, Spike," Mr. Davenport started to say, but Leo interrupted, saying "Yeah, nobody likes that guy."

"You hear that, Chase? Nobody likes you!" Adam pitched in with a laugh.

"Adam! He was talking about Spike!" Chase barked, scowling.

"Well nobody likes you either," Adam muttered to himself, but it was still loud enough for everyone else to hear, especially Chase.

Mr. Davenport cleared his throat before Chase could retort, and with that the bickering siblings fell silent and turned back to him. He sighed, asking "Will you let me speak now?" When everyone nodded in consent, he continued. "I've told you what Spike is and that he is meant to protect Chase, when for Adam and Bree, their strength and speed would protect them. Today's training is going to help the three of you work together when Spike is in the picture, but also so that you, Adam and Bree, can learn to fight without your bionics better by being pitted against Spike," Mr. Davenport explained.

There was a stunned silence before Bree broke it, asking in shock "Are you _crazy?_ Are you _trying_ to kill us?"

"Mr. Davenport, you've got to be joking," Chase scoffed.

"No Chase, I'm not," Mr. Davenport deadpanned, looking at each of them in turn. "It only makes sense; if something was to happen during one of your missions and you turned into Spike," Mr. Davenport said, turning to Chase at this point, "your siblings would need to know how to work with him to complete it. And if Spike were to get out of hand, they would need to know how to subdue him."

"I don't like it, not one bit," Bree said, frowning in concern.

"It's necessary," Mr. Davenport replied.

"I don't want to be Spike!" Chase burst out. "Don't you get it? I really don't like being Spike. What if I severely injured any of you? How could I live with myself?"

"And that is why we are training this way today," Mr. Davenport said, pronouncing every syllable clearly, as if talking to a young child.

"I'm talking about the possibility that I would hurt you _today,_" Chase said, his turn to speak slowly and clearly. "According to my calculations, there is an eighty-six percent chance of any of you at least sustaining an injury. If I hurt Adam or Bree today, there won't be any future missions."

"And that's why I will make sure we take the right precautions," Mr. Davenport said in order to calm them down. "I will keep control of Spike with this remote (that I invented)," he said cockily, holding up a small tablet, "and the three of you will be in the simulator (that I invented)." Mr. Davenport glanced at the bionics, making sure that they understood.

Bree, Chase, and Leo looked at each other worriedly, but Adam frowned in confusion (which was pretty normal for him), saying "I don't get what the big deal is. Spike is only in Chase's weak little body, so it won't be that bad, right?"

Chase threw Adam a glare, a wide-eyed Leo saying "Oh, trust me; you should be very worried about Spike. I would know!"

"Okay, enough talk," Mr. Davenport cut in. "Adam, Bree, and Chase, go put on your simulator goggles and get on the platform so that we can do this."

Grudgingly they consented, Chase looking a little pale. As the lab around them faded and the scene of an all but empty city street came into existence around them, Chase suddenly began exclaiming "I didn't –" when he cut himself off. He froze, scowling. He looked at everything around him, but when his gaze fell on his siblings, he froze yet again, meeting their stares coldly.

"What are you meatheads staring at?" he growled, his voice low and menacing, especially compared to his normally high-pitched pubescent voice.

"_Hey_ Spike! How's it going?" Bree said as sweetly as she could, trying to hide her nervousness.

Spike raised an eyebrow in confusion, but didn't bother to answer her conversational question. The 'bad guys' (henchmen working for the leader of an illegal drug empire) chose that moment to attack, coming from behind Spike.

"Watch out!" Bree shouted, but the man had already grabbed Spike around the throat. Spike pulled his head forward before whipping it back, smashing the man's nose. The man cried out in pain, but he didn't lessen his deadly grip, only holding Spike out further so he couldn't pull that stunt again. Spike tried using his elbows and fists to hit his way free, but the man seemed impervious to his efforts. Spike's face was quickly turning purple, but he didn't give up his struggle; if anything, he thrashed about even more fervently.

Meanwhile Adam and Bree were engaged with their own opponents, Bree using her speed to create a cyclone around several men while Adam worked to catch his swift foe who kept dancing just out of his reach. Once Adam eventually caught him, he threw the man into the wall of a nearby building, effectively knocking him out. Turning to find his next victim, Adam saw that Spike still was not free, but was in fact about to fall unconscious due to being unable to breathe.

Without further contemplation, Adam shot his heat-vision at Spike's captor, nearly hitting Spike as he did. As soon as he was free, Spike bent over, coughing and gasping for air. Adam moved on to confront two more men who were going to work together to take down the bionic strongman, and he quickly forgot the app that was controlling his little brother.

As this took place, Bree had subdued the three men she had trapped in her cyclone, smiling to herself at how easy it had been. She scanned the situation around her and her brothers, seeing to her dismay that they were still far outnumbered, almost three to one, from what she could tell. Bree saw that Adam was being goaded by three different men all around him, and she thought that she might help him (though he probably didn't need it). But then she saw the whirlwind of terror that was Chase – no, not Chase, Spike – in the midst of five men, but even as she watched, their advantage dwindled to four, then three….

_Wow, Spike really _is_ a machine!_ Bree thought to herself, speeding over to try to help him. There was literally a pile of conquered opponents on the ground around him, which made it difficult for anyone to approach him.

She caught a man unaware and made quick work of him, even as Spike simultaneously took down the last two. Bree was about to commend him when she felt pain explode in her abdomen and she found herself on the ground. She incredulously looked up at Spike, who was standing over her triumphantly.

"You idiot, I'm not your enemy!" she cried as she rolled out of his reach before he could do anymore damage. She scrambled to her feet, standing in a defensive position in case he would attack her again.

"Enemies, friends, what's the difference?" he replied with a sneer.

"We're _family!_" Bree exclaimed.

"So? What's the difference?" he asked again, closing the distance between them. He lunged forward to strike her, but she merely avoided him by using her super-speed. He continued to press a flurry of dizzying attacks, but her speed gave her the edge. Spike never so much as touched her.

"Why don't you fight me?" he yelled, obviously frustrated.

"You're my brother!" Bree replied.

"Weakness! You're a lily-livered coward!" Spike growled, dealing what would have been a mortal blow had he hit his mark; but instead his hand just passed through the empty air where she had been, causing him to momentarily lose his balance.

"I simply refuse to fight you," she said haughtily, dodging Spike yet again and again.

"Hey, leaving me out of the fun again?" Adam whined, walking up to them from behind Spike, who, without warning, turned on him suddenly and began pounding him with hit after hit. "Whoa bro!" Adam exclaimed in surprise at first, but it quickly turned into amusement. "Little Chasey is so weak that Spikey can't even hurt me!" Adam laughed.

Spike roared in fury, redoubling his efforts, but still he didn't seem to have much effect on the older and larger boy, who didn't try very hard to defend himself, further infuriating the app.

"This is so –" Adam began to say, but he was unable to finish as he yelped in pain, falling to the ground as Spike finally scored a crippling strike.

"That's for nearly blasting me with your lasers," Spike snarled before kicking him, "and that's for taunting me!"

"Hey, you leave him alone!" Bree shouted, speeding over before he could do anything more to a moaning Adam, who was unable to get back up. She stood between Spike and Adam, lifting her chin defiantly.

Quick enough to rival super-speed, Spike grabbed Bree's neck, pulling her face close to his. "Caught you!" he gloated victoriously before quickly turning vehement again. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip your head off and use it as a bowling ball," he spat.

Terrified, Bree couldn't find the words to convince him to spare her. Even if she would have been able to, his fingers were digging into her neck with such force that she was unable to muster enough breath to cry out in pain, much less for help. She could only hopelessly look into Spike's chilling eyes, wondering how he could be so coldhearted.

But even as she watched, she saw those hard eyes melt into confusion, followed closely by horror. His eyes widening and his mouth forming an O, he quickly let go of her and backed away, looking just as frightened as everyone else was. Chase was back.

As soon as Chase had let go, Bree sucked in air furiously, her tunnel vision subsiding as she did so. Feeling recovered enough, she looked around to see that they were back in the lab. Mr. Davenport and Leo had rushed to Adam's side, but seeing that he was okay, the billionaire decided to leave Leo to watch him and leapt up to check on Bree.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, his concern evident.

"Yes," she croaked before falling prey to a coughing fit.

He examined her neck, saying reluctantly "You will probably have some bruising, but you will live." As she nodded, he moved on to check in with the youngest of his bionic children, who had his back turned to the others.

"Hey Chase, buddy," Mr. Davenport greeted him gently. Chase didn't respond, remaining motionless. "Chase," Mr. Davenport tried again.

Chase ripped off his goggles and threw them to the ground as he swiftly turned to face his father-figure, shouting "What?!" Everyone froze, turning to look at him. Chase was clenching his teeth, but it wasn't hard to see that his lower jaw was trembling with emotion, his eyes rimmed with red. After a moment of icy silence, Chase turned away, muttering hoarsely "Leave me alone," before stalking out of the lab.


	2. Chapter 2

Mr. Davenport was confused. And that was _not_ okay. He didn't understand how things had gone so horribly wrong that afternoon; he had had it all carefully planned out, and he even had remote control of Spike. It was all supposed to be controlled. And yet the app had thwarted him.

Spike had thwarted Donald Davenport, the most handsome and awesome genius billionaire to walk the earth. And that was _not_ okay.

Maybe things had started to get out of hand when Spike had turned on Bree the first time. But at the time, Mr. Davenport had known that Bree would come from that unscathed, and he had been right. He reasoned that that was the entire purpose of the training.

Maybe it had gotten out of hand when Spike had turned on Adam. But again, Adam's size, strength, and superior physical structure held, so Spike was unable to do anything all that damaging.

Mr. Davenport hadn't expected Spike to play dirty, but he supposed that if sheer will, ferocity, and persistence couldn't prevail, that was the only thing left to the app. As far as any of them knew, Spike was unable to use any of Chase's other abilities, which was clearly for the best.

It was out of hand when even after Spike had defeated Adam, he continued to terrorize the older bionic teen. Mr. Davenport shuddered to think of how far Spike might have gone.

It was most certainly out of hand when Bree stepped between her brothers, and Spike used that moment to snare her and slowly squeeze the life out of her. Mr. Davenport had recognized this right away and disengaged the app, but to his horror, Spike had lingered, almost long enough to kill his daughter.

Mr. Davenport suppressed tears of panic and guilt, resting his head in his hands. Today was a bad day. Just a bad day. Bad enough to instill the cold stab of fear of Chase's commando app, Spike, in the hearts of his family. Especially within his own heart, the heart of Donald Davenport.

Bad day. Just a really bad day.

* * *

Chase sat on the floor of one of the upstairs guest bedrooms, his back to a wall. He looked to be staring at a far off point in front of him, seeming completely devoid of life. Maybe he was a dummy.

_Everyone would be better off if I was,_ he thought despondently. For the first time in a while, he moved, shifting his position so that some of the aches he was feeling would go away. As he did so, he unconsciously began to calculate the time based on the weak light that was filtering through the thin window curtains, and from there try to guess at the number of hours he had spent in that room, simply doing nothing.

_No! Stop it! Don't think, Chase. Can't think!_ he mentally scolded himself, but it was too late. The simple act of figuring out the time had set his numb mind back in motion, and with it, his torrential emotions. The terror in Bree's eyes as he strangled her, the evident pain that Adam was in because of him, horror on the faces of Mr. Davenport and Leo, the fear and respect they now all treated him with….

A small, yet potent, sob wracked Chase's form, his shoulders shaking from the force of it. _What had Spike done?_ Chase wished he knew, so that he might at least apologize, but he wondered if his family even wanted the apology. He wondered if they even wanted him around anymore. He wouldn't blame them if they didn't; who would _want_ Spike around?

"I hate you, Spike," Chase whispered hoarsely to no one in particular.

* * *

"Okay, everyone, I don't know what happened in the lab today, but let's put it behind us and enjoy dinner tonight, alright?" Tasha said matronly. "I made lasagna and garlic bread!" When there was still no response from anyone besides the occasional glance at Chase, she sighed, saying "Alright, _what happened?_"

Two of the three boys, the girl, and the man at the table all looked at someone else uncomfortably, hoping that they wouldn't have to be the one to explain. Finally, Chase, who had merely been staring at his empty plate, piped up. "We tried training with Spike today," he said softly.

"And it didn't go well?" Tasha asked.

Chase snorted, saying "No, it didn't." Still he refused to look up.

"Well, it's Spike, you know…," Leo said in defense of Chase, giving his mother a look.

"I don't think I've ever met this 'Spike'," Tasha stated.

"You don't want to!" Leo said quickly, and the others nodded in agreement, Chase looking ever more distressed.

"Now why not? I've never met a dog that didn't like me, you'd think I was a dog-whisperer," Tasha said proudly, but she was bewildered by the outbursts of laughter around the table. "What?" she asked. "We're talking about a dog, right?"

"No, Tasha, we're not!" Mr. Davenport, her husband, choked.

"But he's the same size as one! A Chihuahua, that is!" Adam joked, elbowing Chase, who gave him the typical glare in reaction.

Tasha cocked her head, unable to figure it out, so Mr. Davenport explained: "One of Chase's abilities is his commando app, which is triggered when he is in a dangerous situation and needs to defend himself. The commando app, Spike, has the testosterone level of a wolverine/shark/Tasmanian-devil/lion hybrid, that's really, _really_ mad."

"In both definitions of the word," Bree added, absentmindedly rubbing her neck.

"Needless to say, Adam and Bree got their butts kicked," Leo said seriously. Tasha looked both surprised and impressed.

"I almost killed them," Chase said, visibly distraught. He met Tasha's eyes for the first time that night at the conclusion of that statement.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad, was it?" she looked around at the others, but they wouldn't meet her gaze. "_Was it?_" she repeated. She looked back at Chase, who just shrugged.

"He fought dirty and then tried to kick me to death," Adam said, wincing.

"And he _strangled_ me," Bree added dramatically before catching herself, glancing worriedly at her younger brother.

Tasha looked back at the youngest bionic, clearly disturbed.

"It's not what you think!" Mr. Davenport exclaimed, recognizing her expression. "Chase can't control Spike _at all,_ and he can't remember anything that happened while he was in commando mode."

Tasha turned to Mr. Davenport, who was sitting right next to her, whispering "Donald! Why would you put such a terrible app in the poor boy? Are you sure we can trust him?"

Before Mr. Davenport could respond, they were interrupted by Chase. "Can I be excused? I'm not really hungry right now," he said stoically, standing up as he did so. Mr. Davenport nodded dazedly, shooting a look at Tasha as Chase walked out of the room, presumably to go down to the lab.

"Tasha, you can't say something like that, especially when he's in the room," Mr. Davenport reprimanded when he was sure Chase was gone. "He can hear you with his super-hearing, and he's already beating himself up."

"Well, go talk to him then," Tasha replied, giving her husband a knowing look. He squirmed under her gaze, saying "I think I should at least give him a few minutes, don't you think?"

"Donald!"

"Alright, alright, I'll go," he consented, trying to swallow his nervousness. On the best of days, he wasn't good at this kind of thing, but _today,_ with the possibility of Spike coming out again when he was down in the lab, alone with him…. He shuddered inwardly, saying "Everyone, you need to be _nice_ to Chase, got it? That is an order."

There were nods all around, and with that, Mr. Davenport got up from the table to follow his second-to-youngest son into the lab, taking his sweet time as he did so. When he stepped out of the elevator and walked into the main area of the lab, he immediately saw Chase sitting at the cyber desk, engrossed in some kind of holograph video playing in front of him. Looking at it closer, Mr. Davenport was able to recognize it as a scene he had witnessed earlier that day that had been haunting him since.

"I know why you're here," Chase said without glancing in the direction of the elevator, "and I know why you don't approach me, why you don't come any closer. Why you're staying close to the elevator." At that Chase tore his burning stare from the holographic screen to his father figure, the boy's expression unreadable.

"Chase, I… I came to talk to you, about what happened earlier today; I wanted to see how you were doing," Mr. Davenport said, walking up to Chase, who paused the video. On the screen was a still-shot of Chase – er, Spike – mercilessly kickboxing a man in the face.

"You don't need to prove that you're not scared of me, just stay by the elevator," Chase instructed emotionlessly, but Mr. Davenport chose to ignore him, coming to stand directly next to his son. "And by the way, I'm pretty sure Tasha made you come down here, so let's just get this over with," Chase added.

Mr. Davenport opened his mouth to object, but then clamped it shut again, choosing not to argue. It always amazed him how perceptive and intelligent Chase was. Instead the man asked "How did you find that? The video, I mean. I thought I got rid of that."

"Look who you're talking to," Chase said arrogantly, raising an eyebrow with a small smile; but after a moment, the expression quickly gave away again to the stone mask he had assumed since the incident.

"You shouldn't be watching it, you don't want to see the end," Mr. Davenport warned.

"I've already seen the entire video; this is my second time through it."

"You shouldn't have watched that."

"Why not?" Chase burst out. "Why shouldn't I? I'm just as responsible for this as Spike is, so don't you think I should know what I did?"

"Chase, this was all Spike, you didn't do anything! Please don't beat yourself up over it," Mr. Davenport pleaded.

"He did all that _through me!_ He draws his emotions from mine, his strategy from mine! If Spike's around, so am I; and if I'm around, so is Spike!"

Mr. Davenport looked down in defeat. How could he refute that?

There was a long, uncomfortable silence before Chase broke it, saying "Mr. Davenport, I want you to remove my commando app."

"Chase, you know I –" Mr. Davenport started to say, but Chase cut him off.

"No, Mr. Davenport! No excuses! I want him out, I want him gone!" Chase shouted.

"Chase, listen to me," Mr. Davenport commanded, grabbing Chase's shoulder before he could turn away. "I can't remove Spike. He is a part of _you;_ your chip simply brings him to life."

"Then remove the app," Chase said in annoyance.

"I can't do that, it would destroy the very foundation of your bionic abilities and severely affect your brain," Mr. Davenport explained quickly before an upset Chase could interrupt him yet again.

Chase didn't respond, simply staring at Mr. Davenport angrily. He couldn't believe this. Was he seriously stuck with Spike _forever?_ Sure, Spike didn't come out often, and quite frankly, he didn't even come out when he was needed; he only seemed to come when it was a great opportunity for him to ruin Chase's life and hurt the people he cared about.

Chase heard the _click_ and the sliding of the elevator doors, and he let his stare shift over to the intruders. Adam and Bree snuck in timidly, closely followed by Leo and Tasha, all of them looking frightened for their lives.

Mr. Davenport turned to see what Chase was looking at, and when he saw the rest of his family standing there awkwardly, he asked "What are you guys _doing?_"

"We heard yelling, and we were… worried," Bree said, trying to put it as nicely as she could. Mr. Davenport quickly turned back to Chase to see that he was grimacing at that, and the man of the household turned back to the others, his eyes wide, as if to say _Shut up! Go away!_

Tasha got the message, saying "Come on, you three, let's finish dinner, alright? There's still plenty left." And with that they shuffled out, leaving Mr. Davenport and Chase alone again.

"Go with them," Chase said as Mr. Davenport turned back to him. "It's a school night, so I'm going to go to sleep now."

Mr. Davenport held Chase's gaze a moment longer before saying "Alright, sleep well."

The corner of Chase's mouth twitched, but that was the only reaction Mr. Davenport got from him. With that, the billionaire-father-figure left the lab, and Chase was once more left to his thoughts. He had been serious about going to bed (well, capsule in the case of the bionics), but before being true to his word, he discarded the video, making sure it was gone for good. Chase had seen enough to have memorized every last detail.

_Mr. Davenport is a liar,_ Chase thought to himself. _If he really hadn't wanted me to see the video, I wouldn't have found it. But he knew I would want to see it, so he simply hid it. I wonder what else he lies about, like a certain commando app…?_

Before leaving the cyber desk, he had one more thing to do. He typed in a list of commands and set the timing for them. After reviewing the code to make sure it was free of errors, he felt that it was fine, so he closed the window and shut down the desk so that no one would know of his intentions.

As the screen turned black, a sense of peace came over him, and he relished in it. Content with his work, he hopped down from the swivel stool at the desk and walked to his capsule, stepping in and preparing it for the night ahead of him. And with that, he let the peace sweep him away into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chase slept well that night, only being disturbed twice.

The first time, he was still in a sleepy haze, but he had no trouble hearing the soft footsteps of his siblings and their quiet conversation before they climbed into their capsules. If they had said anything of significance, Chase didn't know about it; he was too delirious to make out individual words, much less even half a conversation.

Anyhow, the event passed without excitement, and Chase wandered among his dreams once more within minutes of being awoken.

The second occurrence was of more importance than the first, and this time Chase was thoroughly shaken from sleep. He came to full consciousness to a familiar tingling sensation, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that his capsule all around him was glowing. He couldn't help the small smile that crept upon his face – it was working.

He felt the still familiar sharp pain in the back of his neck, and he winced. Just because it was familiar didn't mean that it was pleasant in any way, shape, or form. _It's not meant to be pleasant,_ Chase reminded himself, watching as slowly his capsule dimmed again. _There's a reason that this was made to be painful._

His entire being was buzzing and he now had a splitting headache, but the feeling of peace about what he had just done prevailed. _I would go through that a thousand times, if only to keep my family and friends safe._

With that last thought, extreme fatigue overcame Chase, and he soon succumbed to his waking dreams for the third and last time that night.

* * *

**AN: Yes, that is it for this chapter... and yes, while the previous chapters are two _thousand _words, this (not including the AN) is only two _hundred_ words. And yes, I meant to keep you all in the dark just a little longer... mwahahaha *cough cough*.**

**Thank you for the kind reviews, I'm blown away by how many of you read this and like it. Every time I come on here, I can't help but grin - you're all awesome!**

**Anyways, stay tuned for chapter four (questions will be answered)!**


	4. Chapter 4

The alarms within the capsules of the bionic teens went off at the same time it did every morning, and true to habit, all three groaned at the rude awakening. Due to their capsules, it only took mere minutes for them to get ready, and with that part of their routine done, they headed up to breakfast.

Chase had noticed immediately that morning that he felt different, but he couldn't place his finger on it. It was a strange sensation, a sensation of being _empty._ And Chase had never been empty before; being that he was the one with super-intelligence, he had been full to the brim with knowledge from the very start. It wasn't that he was feeling _un-_knowledgeable, but…. He couldn't figure out how to put it to words, so he simply gave up.

"Good morning, you three," Tasha greeted cheerily as the bionic children groggily lumbered into the kitchen. "How are we feeling this morning?"

Adam and Bree groaned, obviously feeling the bruises from the day before. Chase felt a little guilty still, but he also felt that his recent… accomplishment? No, that wasn't the word. He couldn't think of anything else, so he gave up again. He was starting to grow worried, but he reassured himself, thinking _It was the only way, and it's obviously for the best. You should expect this._

What had he been thinking about before? Oh yeah, the guilt. He had been thinking that he had made up for yesterday for the most part. There. He did it. He made a whole, cohesive thought.

Chase snapped back to attention as Tasha asked "What would you like for breakfast? You're choices are yogurt, toast, and cereal."

"Yogurt for me, please," Bree said.

"Pour me some of that cereal, Tasha. I need my cup o' sugar for today!" Adam said as he patted his stomach, looking genuinely excited for his breakfast.

"I'll have some cereal too," Chase said simply, sitting down at his spot.

"Wow, no lecture on sugar today, _genius?_" Bree asked him quietly, giving him a knowing look.

Chase refused to look at her, pretending that he hadn't heard. Leo chose that moment to join the majority of the Davenport family, temporarily saving Chase from the interrogation.

"Guess what day it is, people!" Leo announced happily. They all turned to him, and he continued, saying "Today's the week long anniversary since Janelle and I started dating!" His eyes were wide and a silly grin smothered his face.

"Yeah, talk about weak," Adam scoffed, as if to say _duh!_

"Adam!" Bree scolded.

"You're just jealous because I got a girlfriend before you," Leo sniffed. "And I will have you know that it is a _very_ strong relationship!"

Adam let it be at that, turning back to his food with a shrug. While Leo had been making his announcement, Tasha had placed Chase's bowl of cereal in front of him, so when he turned around to face it, he began eating right away.

Before Bree could try to press Chase again, he was once more lucky; at that point Mr. Davenport entered the room, saying "Come on, everyone, eat quickly. You can't be late for school."

"We're not going to be late, Big D," Adam said with conviction, but then he paused, frowning as he asked Chase "Will we?"

Chase just shrugged, saying "I would just eat, if I were you." It was apparent that Adam was glad to comply with that statement.

Bree shot her little bionic brother a look, but then she smiled mischievously, and within the second, she had finished her breakfast with the aid of her super-speed. Chase looked on enviously.

Soon after, Adam had polished off his, and not long after that Chase and Leo had followed suit. With food in their stomachs, the four kids and Mr. Davenport exited the household, Tasha calling "Have a good day at school!" after them.

The car ride was quiet that morning. It was not terribly unusual, but it wasn't ordinary either. That morning everyone kept their thoughts to themselves, and each was thankful for that.

Mr. Davenport, Bree, and Leo all worried about a Spike appearance. Chase was not worried about that, but he certainly had other problems at hand. Adam just wondered what a tomato dipped in butterscotch pudding would taste like (and yes, he did in fact forget that he had already tried this and had decided that it was awful).

When they arrived at their destination, they exchanged goodbyes with Mr. Davenport before heading into their school, Mission Creek High. As soon as the Davenports and Dooley were among the crowds of kids in the hallways, Chase made an escape from his siblings with the help of his small stature. If they weren't around to ask questions, he wouldn't be forced to answer.

Chase grabbed all that he needed from his locker right off the bat before his siblings or few-and-far-in-between friends could look for him there. From there he made his way to his first class of the day, biology. _I'm glad no one I know well is in any of my classes,_ Chase thought as he sat down at his desk. _I might be able to get by without being discovered as I figure out this new stage in my life._

But when he thought (which had strangely become unpleasant lately) about it, he realized that that couldn't be true. _Bree knows. But how did she find out? I was sure that no one could find out._

It wasn't long before the bell that signified the start of class rang, and Chase found the noise sweet to his ears. _How could I have ever hated the sound before? Of course, it was awfully loud before, but besides that, it means I can relax now._

But he was not in for relaxation that day, as he quickly found out. The teacher started class, the day's agenda being a lecture about ecosystems. As she dived in, she briefly summed up what they had learned the day before, and then began telling them about the specific components in most ecosystems.

On a normal day (for Chase), he would have sat back leisurely and listened intently, finding satisfaction in hearing other people talk about and teach what he already knew, what he'd known since a very young age. In a world that looked down their noses at him due to his small size, his assumed weak physical prowess, his unpopular interests, and superior intellect, he generally felt unimportant, like an annoying outsider. Chase knew that others resented him for being smart and 'rubbing it in their faces all the time', but now he recognized that maybe because he had never really felt all that smart, he needed to prove it to others before he could believe it himself.

That was all and well before (not really), but now Chase didn't even have the brain to back the claim. What he was hearing his teacher say now was gibberish to his ears, and he was lost. Utterly lost.

And that was terrifying.

Chase was in the process of trying to cope with this revelation when his teacher, expecting him to already know the material like the back of his hand as he normally did, asked "Chase, would you be so kind as to enlighten us?"

"Huh?" he asked, his head shooting up and his eyes widening in brief panic.

She sighed. "We all know that you are an expert on everything being taught in this class, but I think it is a common courtesy that you at least pay attention."

"I-I…," he trailed off, unable to come up with a plausible excuse.

The teacher turned to the blackboard behind her, underlining the question they were discussing. Chase had to squint to read what it said, when normally his super-vision would have allowed him to see every granule of chalk on the board.

"Now will you please share your thoughts on the matter?" she asked him.

Chase blinked once. Twice. He sighed in defeat, saying softly "I don't know."

"Whoa, Daven_dork_ doesn't know the answer? That's a first!" Chase heard someone from behind him say, and he resisted the urge to turn around and confront the kid.

The teacher just looked at Chase in shock. After a moment, she shook herself out of it and continued on with the lesson. It wasn't until she had broken them up into groups to fill out a packet that she called Chase up to talk to her.

"Chase, are you feeling okay today?" she asked him.

"No, not really," he replied honestly. "Can I go home?"

She gave him a long, hard look before saying "Alright, you may go. I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks," he replied with a humorless smile. He gathered his stuff up and left class, relief washing over him once he was alone. He dropped off whatever he didn't need at his locker and left the school, not looking back. He wasn't going home, not just yet. He needed to figure some things out.

Chase walked over to the nearest park, which was a quarter of a mile away and along the route to his home. He sat down on one the benches, dropping his backpack at his feet, and leaned his head back, closing his eyes as he breathed in the fresh air.

He hadn't thought removing his chip would be so difficult for him to accept, but now he knew the truth of it. The chip stored not only Spike, but also his super-senses, his molecular kinesis, his super-intelligence, his magnetism, his override app, his levitation, his scanning technology, his force-field, his memory reserve, his GPS….

_Who knew that I had completely defined myself by the abilities on my chip? Without my chip, I feel like someone else. Without my chip, I'm not even Chase Davenport anymore – I'm just as much an imposter as Spike is._

Those thoughts deeply disturbed the youngest bionic, but they rang true. _Who knew that in trying to get rid of Spike, I could lose so much?_


	5. Chapter 5

Chase took his time walking the rest of the way home, trying to figure out how he was going to come to terms with being 'normal'. He wondered if he would have to drop out of his current classes due to their sudden difficulty for him; that was likely. He wondered if he would still be able to go on missions; that was _un_likely. Without his chip, he was useless. He had felt useless before the removal of it, but now he really was. Chase found a new respect for Leo that afternoon.

He snuck into the house as quietly as he could, but to his dismay, he found Mr. Davenport and Tasha sitting on the couch together, talking quietly. When they heard Chase, they fell silent, looking up at him without surprise.

"So how has it been without your chip?" Mr. Davenport asked, looking ticked.

"What are you talking about?" Chase asked, playing dumb. He didn't need to act to appear confused; how was it that not only Bree, but now Mr. Davenport and Tasha as well, knew what he had done?

"You know well what I'm talking about, don't play that game with me," Mr. Davenport snapped.

Chase sighed, rolling his eyes in annoyance and defeat. "Alright, how did you know then?" he asked.

"You left your chip extractor in your capsule. And you aren't at school," Mr. Davenport deadpanned.

Chase inclined his head, realizing his mistakes.

"So, how has it been, then?" Tasha asked.

"Um, fine. Different," Chase said briefly, not wishing to go into any more detail. He began to walk into the house more and away from his guardians when they stopped him, Mr. Davenport saying "Come back here, young man!"

Chase heaved another sigh, turning and ambling back to them.

"Why don't you have a seat? We have a lot to talk about," Mr. Davenport said.

* * *

"Big D! We can't find Chase anywhere!" Adam shouted as he, Leo, and Bree entered the house. "I'm worried about him – he might have gotten lost in the new ant farm at school!"

"Adam!" Chase snapped, giving his big brother a customary glare as he walked into the room. "I'm right here."

"Chase wasn't at school?" Leo gasped.

"I left during the first class," Chase explained.

"Why?"

"I didn't feel like staying."

Adam walked up to Chase, staring down at him hard. "Who are you and what did you do with Chase?"

"I _am_ Chase!" Chase insisted.

Adam turned to the others, telling them quietly "That's what they all say!"

"_Adam!_" Chase said in exasperation.

Mr. Davenport came into the room at that point, saying "Guys, leave Chase alone."

Adam walked quickly over to Mr. Davenport, saying "I don't mean to alarm you, but that isn't really Chase!"

Mr. Davenport rolled his eyes. "I can assure you, Adam, that that really is Chase."

"Are you sure?"

"_Yes._"

"Alright," Adam said uneasily. Turning back to Chase, he said "I'm keeping my eye on you, though."

Chase just shook his head, looking up in vexation.

"So what does everyone have for homework today?" Mr. Davenport asked, changing the subject.

"Leo and I are partners for a Spanish project," Bree said.

"I have math," Adam said in disgust. "Not-Chase, you're going to help me."

"I _am_ Chase," Chase said again, substantially annoyed by this time. "And sorry Adam, but I'm busy, so I can't help you today." _Or any day after today, for that matter._

"Busy doing what? It's not like you have a life," Adam argued.

Chase scowled at his older brother, curtly saying "I have homework that I have to do as well."

"Come on, it only takes you ten minutes to do yours."

"It's a big project," Chase lied. Mr. Davenport shot Chase a look, and the youngest bionic withered under it. "Okay, okay, I don't really have any homework," Chase confessed.

"Great, then you can help me!" Adam said.

"Uh, no, I can't," Chase said awkwardly.

"I knew it!" Bree exclaimed.

"How did you know?" Chase asked her.

"I saw your capsule light up last night, and then you've been acting funny all day. It was obvious," she said nonchalantly.

"I thought you'd be asleep by then."

Bree looked away uncomfortably, saying "I couldn't sleep. Not after what happened yesterday."

Guilt and pain flashed across Chase's features, but before he could reply, Leo cut into the conversation. "Hold the phone! Am I the only one who doesn't know what's going on?"

"I don't either," Adam said, raising his hand a little.

"Well of course you don't," Leo said, rolling his eyes.

"I took out my chip," Chase said plainly.

"Put it back in, then, and help me with my homework," Adam said, wondering why all of a sudden he seemed to be the smartest person in the room.

"No, I took it out for good. I'm not going to be bionic anymore," Chase said dramatically to drive the point home.

After a moment of stunned silence, Adam asked "Why?"

"_Why_ do you _think?_" Chase shouted, causing everyone else to jump.

"Ohhh…," Leo said in revelation, but Adam still looked confused.

"I don't know," Adam said. "You've always aspired to be Leo?"

"No!" Chase said angrily. "No offense, Leo," he added.

"None taken," Leo sighed.

"I took out my chip because my commando app is on it, so if there's no commando app, there's no Spike," Chase explained animatedly. "No chip, no Spike."

"Ohhh…." It was Adam's turn to have a revelation. "Why didn't you just say that?"

* * *

**AN: How's that for a comical anticlimax? Don't worry, the best of the story is yet to come; I'm just trying to draw it out. And hopefully I'm giving you a laugh as I do.**

**Thank you all again for the reviews, favorites, and follows - hang in there for Chapter 6!**


	6. Chapter 6

"Mr. Davenport, can I ask you a question?" Bree asked.

"I don't know, can you?" he replied.

"Ugh, whatever," she said, rolling her eyes. "Why don't you just take the commando app off of Chase's chip so that he can stay bionic? Can't you see how upset he is?"

They both looked over to see Chase sulking as Adam beat him at yet another round of whatever video game they were playing now. Bree didn't get why they even liked to play video games in the first place.

"It was funny for the first ten minutes, but now I just feel bad for him," she said as she and Mr. Davenport turned to look at each other again.

"I wish I could, but Spike is so ingrained into Chase's chip that taking out the app might destroy the chip altogether," Mr. Davenport elucidated.

"This is about saving the chip? What about saving my _brother?_" Bree asked incredulously.

Mr. Davenport pursed his lips. "It might damage his brain."

Bree looked away, her thoughts whirling. She turned back to the billionaire inventor. "You have to try. You're the person most likely to succeed."

"I know," said Mr. Davenport, not even cracking a self-satisfied smile at her statement. It was his turn to think. "Before I do anything, we need to ask Chase what he wants."

A grin broke out across Bree's face, and she turned back to her brothers. "Chase! Come here!"

"Just a sec," he mumbled, frowning as more of his space ships were destroyed by Adam's fleet. It wasn't long before all of his ships were obliterated, and he sighed in disgust with himself. Putting down the controller angrily, Chase got up and joined Mr. Davenport and Bree where they had been conversing by the kitchen counter. "What is it?" he asked them.

"I've decided that I'm going to try to remove your commando app from your chip," Mr. Davenport stated seriously.

"I convinced him," Bree added, still grinning.

It took a moment for Chase to register what he was hearing. But when he did, a huge smile brightened his features, and he began laughing with joy. "Yes!" he cried out. "Oh yes!"

"You know it could damage your brain, and it might not even work at all," Mr. Davenport warned.

"Who cares?" Chase exclaimed. "It can't get much worse than this!"

"Um, I'm pretty sure it can," Mr. Davenport said stiffly.

"Stop being a wet blanket," Bree scolded the tech mogul, slapping his arm lightly. "Let him be happy." She had been taken aback by how emotional Chase was that day, and this extreme almost surprised her more. It warmed her heart.

Mr. Davenport still looked unsure of his decision, but there was no going back now. "I'll work on it as long as I need to tomorrow since it's Saturday," he said before walking away from the siblings.

"Ahh! I can't believe this! Thank you, thank you, thank you Bree!" Chase said enthusiastically, and he wrapped her in as much of a bear hug as he could give.

"Not having your chip was _that bad?_" she asked when they parted, raising her eyebrows.

Chase's features fell to seriousness as he said "Yes. Since I took my chip out, I've feel like I don't have a brain; everything is so confusing and I've felt completely useless, I feel super tired, and…," he just shook his head, letting his features brighten again as he thought about getting his chip back once more. "I'll get to feel like me again!" he laughed, practically hopping.

Bree wasn't sure whether to be amused, disturbed, or worried as she watched her little brother dance around the room. She just hoped that she had done the right thing.

* * *

"When do you think you'll start working on my chip?" Chase asked Mr. Davenport the next morning at breakfast.

"After I finish getting ready and get everything set up," he answered.

Pause.

"How long will it take to get rid of Spike?" Chase asked.

"I don't know," Mr. Davenport replied.

Pause.

"Do you-" Chase began to say.

"Stop it!" Mr. Davenport exclaimed, cutting the youngest bionic off. Chase had been pestering him all morning, asking many of the questions more than once, and the head of the household was fed up. "Stop. Asking me. Questions!"

Chase shut his mouth, retracting much as a turtle would.

Mr. Davenport closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing. "Just leave me alone, and I'm sure everything will be _fine._ If you bother me _too_ much, I may just 'accidentally' break your chip," he threatened.

Chase gulped. He remained quiet and as un-obstructive as possible for the rest of the morning, _shh_-ing anyone who so much as made a peep around the mogul. At one point Mr. Davenport finally managed to shake the second youngest long enough to sneak down into the lab and lock himself in before the others could follow, getting to work right away. A paranoid Chase paced outside the elevator doors for the rest of the day.

It wasn't until later that evening that the billionaire finally came up from the lab, emerging from the elevator for dinner. Everyone else was there for his arrival, barraging him with questions.

Chase won his attention first, asking "Did it work? Did it work? _Did it work?_"

"It better have," Bree groaned. "We did not put up with _that_" she gestured to her younger brother "all day for nothing."

Chase frowned before returning his attention to Mr. Davenport, who simply exclaimed "Leave me alone! Sit down at the table and I will tell you about it." His family complied, and he joined them. "It certainly wasn't an easy task; I wouldn't have trusted anyone else to do it. The chip took a little bit of work, but I cracked it open –"

Chase gasped in horror, and Mr. Davenport rolled his eyes, saying "_Not literally,_" before continuing. "Anyways, I got into it and started looking at what was there and identified where the commando app was stored. I started tinkering around with it –"

"Hee hee hee! He said _tinker!_" Adam giggled. Chase elbowed him, saying "Let Mr. Davenport talk!"

Mr. Davenport looked thoroughly annoyed, but he continued to finish explaining. "So I was working with it, and in a long and complicated process I couldn't hope to explain to any of you, I am pretty sure that I removed Spike."

Cheers broke out among all of the family members, and with that, a smile of accomplishment was plastered on Mr. Davenport's face.

"I'm putting my chip in right now!" Chase announced, barely able to contain himself, running to the elevator.

"I never want to see that again," Leo commented quietly to Bree.

"Are you really one to talk?" she asked.

"Touché."

Five minutes later Chase was with them again, saying "Good news, people, the Chase Davenport you all know and love is back!"

"_Ugh,_" Leo, Bree, and Adam groaned teasingly.

"That's wonderful, sweetie!" Tasha said.

"Is everything working?" Mr. Davenport asked.

"Well, being that I can identify how many calories a serving of that chicken would be, I would say so," Chase answered, flashing his family one of his bright white 'Look how smart I am!' smiles.

"And everything else is working?" the inventor pressed.

Chase went around displaying his powers, lifting things with his molecular kinesis, showing off his force field, rising a few feet into the air with his levitation, and demonstrating his magnetism. "All systems are a go," he said happily, "except for one."

"Which one?" Mr. Davenport asked worriedly.

"Well, the commando app, _of course!_"

There was light laughter around the table, and Chase sat down with them, reaching to grab his glass of milk. But as he touched it, there was a snap, and the drink was frozen. "Whoa, what was that?" he asked, just as amazed as everyone else was.

"I think I triggered the unlocking of a new ability for you," Mr. Davenport said in wonder.

Everyone looked at each other, Adam exclaiming "Ooh, ooh, work on my chip next!" There was more laughter at that.

"Do it again, Chase," Bree requested eagerly. Chase grabbed Leo's drink, but nothing happened this time. He frowned, touching Adam's cup, but still there was no reaction.

"That's weird, why won't it work now?" Chase wondered aloud.

"We'll look into that after dinner," Mr. Davenport said curtly, and the family finally began to eat. Half an hour later you could find them (minus Tasha) in the lab, Mr. Davenport scouring his reports on the abilities of the bionics. "According to this, you build up a special kind of energy and expend it by giving a 'cold shock' to anything you touch," he said to Chase, looking up excitedly. "The app harvests the energy and allows you to use it; the energy is a byproduct of the use of your other bionic abilities, so the more you use your magnetism, levitation, and any of your other physical abilities, the larger the shock."

"That is so cool," Chase said, beaming.

"Why does he get all the abilities?" Bree complained.

"Does Chase really have anything else going for him?" Mr. Davenport pointed out, and Chase frowned, saying "_Hey!_"

"It's true," Leo pointed out, putting his hands up.

Chase shook his head in exasperation, focusing back on his newest development. "So if I do _this,_" Chase picked up and set down every loose object in the room simultaneously with his molecular kinesis "and _that,_" he put up his force field briefly before letting it back down "I can shock you like _this?_" he asked mischievously as he touched Mr. Davenport.

"Gah!" Mr. Davenport yelped, tensing up. After a moment he started moving again, shivering and trying to rub himself warm. "Don't _ever_ do that again!" he shouted through his chattering teeth. His children simply laughed, Adam forgetting about his super strength as he gave Chase a high five; Chase made a face as he shook off the pain from the force of it.

"Chase, you need to be careful with this ability," Mr. Davenport said as another chill went down his spine. "You don't know how powerful your shocks could be; you don't want to hurt someone."

"What did it feel like?" Leo asked curiously.

"Like _someone_ froze my blood," Mr. Davenport said angrily "which is what he practically did!"

"Great, now Chase has another potent weapon in his arsenal," Bree said with no enthusiasm, rolling her eyes. Chase grinned at that, laughing manically.

"I'm glad I'm not more mature; you're all going to be seeing more of this ability!" he snickered evilly, and his siblings groaned.

"And this would be why you didn't have it before," Mr. Davenport sighed. "Quite frankly, I don't think you should have it even now."

"I assure you, Mr. Davenport, no one will get hurt," Chase said in an effort to put Mr. Davenport at ease. "It will all be in good fun."

Mr. Davenport looked at him seriously before saying "Why don't we give it a rest, alright? Tasha was thinking we'd have a family movie night tonight," as he ushered the teens to the elevator. From there the conversation turned to what movie should be watched, and the rest of the night progressed as a normal night would, aside from the fact that by the end of it, everyone had been literally chilled by Chase's new ability. It was the general census that Chase's full maturity couldn't come sooner.

* * *

**AN: So this is where it gets a _little_ AU... what do you think is going on? This can't be the end... can it?**

**Nope, it's not. We have barely begun! **

**Oh, and to reply to the most recent guest reviewer, I do in fact take story requests :) Also, as I've said before and will keep saying, thanks for all of the wonderful reviews! You guys rock :)**

** Stay tuned for Chapter 7!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chase woke the next morning to knocking on his capsule door, and groggily he forced his eyes open. He saw Bree and Mr. Davenport standing there, looking worried.

"Whaaaaat?" Chase moaned, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

'Open your capsule,' Mr. Davenport mouthed, and Chase complied.

"Are you feeling okay?" Bree asked once the capsule door was open.

"I only _just_ woke up; you couldn't let me sleep in?" Chase grumbled.

Bree and Mr. Davenport temporarily looked at each other, Bree saying "That's the problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Chase, you've been sleeping for at least fourteen hours now; it's past noon already," Mr. Davenport explained.

"Really?" Chase asked, coming more awake at that.

"With that in mind, how are you feeling?" Mr. Davenport asked the youngest bionic.

"As if I've been hit by a bus," Chase answered.

"But you slept alright?"

"I feel like I had only been sleeping for a few hours, and I was sleeping _hard._"

Mr. Davenport began pacing, saying "I wonder if I screwed up your chip. Or maybe you overdid it yesterday."

"Or both," Bree contributed.

"Whatever it is, I don't care at the moment; now that I'm awake, I'm super hungry," Chase said, coming out of his capsule and walking past them. "See-ya."

As soon as he was out of the lab, Bree asked the tech mogul "What do you think's going on? Will he be okay?"

"I don't know, but I guess we'll find out," Mr. Davenport replied.

* * *

"Good morning, honey," Tasha greeted Chase as he came into the kitchen.

"Hi Tasha," Chase said briefly, opening up the fridge to scour through its contents.

"Whoa, Sleeping Beauty has awoken!" Leo said from the couch, where he and Adam were playing videogames.

"Aww, Chasey, you woke up too early! Prince Charming hasn't arrived yet – he's still on his way!" Adam added.

Chase took his head out of the fridge momentarily to shoot his brothers (particularly his older one) a look, saying sarcastically "Ha ha, very funny," before continuing his search.

"What are you looking for?" Tasha asked.

"Something, anything," Chase mumbled absentmindedly as he rummaged through the produce drawer.

"A little hungry this morning?"

"Very," he said seriously, shutting the drawer and moving on to the dairy drawer.

"We've already had breakfast and lunch, so what would you like to eat?"

Chase paused, thinking through his options. "Are there leftovers I can have?"

"You know Adam, of course there aren't," Tasha said jokingly, but she wasn't lying. There were never leftovers in the Davenport-Dooley household. "Why don't I throw in a pizza? You can have any snack or side-food item in there that you want, if that sounds good."

"That sounds great; thanks Tasha," Chase said gratefully. As she made a run to the freezer, he decided on some sugar free yogurt while he waited. Tearing off the cover and grabbing a spoon, he began to eat it voraciously.

But as he was eating, he heard a familiar buzzing and felt himself being dragged across the floor until he was plastered firmly to the fridge, every metal object in the room racing towards him at breakneck speed. "Ahhh!" he cried out, activating his force field just in time to stop the knives.

"Hey!" Adam exclaimed as Leo simultaneously shouted "Dude!", their video game controllers ripped out of their hands.

"Sorry, I'm glitching!" Chase said with effort. As more and more objects began piling up around his force field in trying to stick to him, he had to work harder and harder to keep up his only protection. All he could see was a wall of metal around his spherical force field, the only sounds being the clanging and screeching of metal against metal.

And then it was over. Without precedent, all the metal simply fell to the ground in a heaping, rolling pile around the bionic, who was free of the fridge and breathing hard from the experience. He looked up from the mess around him to see the rest of his family staring at him with shock.

"What. Was. That?" Leo asked in awe.

Chase just shrugged, saying "Major glitch?"

"Uh, yeah, that glitch pulled every metal thing _in the lab_ to the ceiling in the exact spot vertically as where you are standing, _four floors up!_" Mr. Davenport said animatedly, looking ready to scream.

At that moment there was knocking at the front door, and Tasha said "Leo, can you get that?"

He did, opening the door to reveal a handsome young man dressed elegantly in an old European style reserved for royalty.

"Oh look! Prince Charming finally arrived!" Adam said, giving Chase a wink.

Chase scowled, saying to the man at the door "You can go home. There's nothing here."

"No, stay," Bree said breathlessly, a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Well I wasn't called out here for nothing – I'm getting paid before I go," the man said stubbornly, and Mr. Davenport sighed, digging his wallet out of his pants pockets as he walked over to join Leo at the door.

"How much?" Mr. Davenport asked.

"That'll be a hundred-and-twenty dollars."

Mr. Davenport shot a wide-eyed, angry look at Adam before paying the man.

"Oh, and is your car supposed to be pressed up against your house in the yard?" Prince not-so-Charming asked.

Mr. Davenport choked, saying "Just go. Please go."

The man did, and Mr. Davenport slammed the door shut, looking at his kids. Then he broke down. "It's not even two in the afternoon!" he cried.


	8. Chapter 8

"… so that's over eight-thousand dollars in damage, and then add in Adam's little fiasco…" Mr. Davenport was muttering, pacing around the lab.

"I am so sorry, Mr. Davenport," Chase apologized for what seemed the millionth time.

Mr. Davenport stopped, turning to Chase and saying "Chase, for the last time, it wasn't your fault (that you destroyed in two-minutes projects I've been working on and investing in for _two years_)." Deep breath. "Just like with Spike, you can't control your glitches."

"What I don't understand is why this glitch was so massive and why it carried on for so long," Chase thought aloud. "It must have something to do with yesterday." He leaned back on the cyber-desk, watching Mr. Davenport begin to pace again.

"I just don't know what to do with you," the tech mogul said, shaking his head. "It depends on whether this is a permanent thing or only temporary."

"If it's temporary, we just wait it out, right?"

"Exactly, and hopefully no more harm will come."

"And if it's permanent, I guess I'll just have to live without the chip," Chase sighed despondently.

Mr. Davenport shook his head, saying "I'm sorry Chase, but you can't do that. The chip is the keystone of your body, so if you leave it out for too long, you'll simply… well, _die._"

Chase gaped at him. "Why didn't we know this before? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I found out when I worked on your chip yesterday, and in consulting my files it was confirmed. I didn't tell you because I didn't think you'd need to know since you planned to keep it in. And besides, who would _want_ to know that their entire existence rests with a chip?"

Chase frowned, mulling it over. "So if it's permanent…?" Chase turned his piercing gaze to his father-figure, who sighed.

"I might have to move you to an off-shore private facility so that you don't accidentally hurt anyone," Mr. Davenport said, looking at his biological nephew sadly.

Chase shook his head slowly, saying "No, you can't…. This is my home, you and the others are my family; despite what you think, I have friends, a good thing going in school, and I like being _normal!_ You _can't_ take that away from me!"

Mr. Davenport looked away.

"What about missions? Who will lead them? And what about the things only I can do? Adam and Bree may be Muscle and Hustle, but they don't have the intelligence and the other abilities I have. And what do you expect me to do on an isolated island all by myself, anyways?" Chase pressed. "I'd sure be useful then," he added sarcastically.

Mr. Davenport remained silent.

Chase looked at him incredulously. "You can't be serious! Would I ever be able to see any of you again? Would I ever see another _human being_ again?"

"There are robots," Mr. Davenport said defensively.

"Oh yeah, we both know how well that worked out last time," Chase said sardonically. "On that island, all I would ever amount to – all I'd ever be – is a mistake."

Mr. Davenport was unable to look into Chase's eyes for very long, and Chase scowled, storming out of the room. _There's no way this is going to be permanent, not on my watch!_ he thought to himself with determination.

When he entered into the main part of the house from the elevator, Chase was confronted by the picture of normalcy, which meant that Adam had gone back to playing a video game by himself, Leo and Bree were working on their Spanish project, and Tasha was down the hallway trying to clean up after the earlier incident.

"Did Big D give you a piece of his mind?" Leo asked Chase, looking up as he walked in. At that, Chase's already foul mood darkened even more.

"No, it's not like it was my fault," Chase said stiffly.

"Your next glitch might be our next mission," Bree commented.

Chase sighed angrily and turned away from the two of them. He knew that they were only giving him a hard time, but it really was a bad time for that. Their comments stung at the moment.

"Can I join you?" Chase asked his older brother, plopping down on the couch next to him. He wished only to take his mind off of his predicament at the moment.

"Sure, grab a controller," Adam said without taking his eyes off the screen. As soon as he finished the game, he saved his progress before going back to the home screen so that Chase could connect. "Ladies first," Adam smirked.

Chase glared at him, connecting his controller to the game software without saying a word.

"Oh, I didn't get a chance to ask you earlier, but how did you like Prince Charming? I know he was a little late, but –" Adam was saying when Chase suddenly stood up. He turned and grabbed the collar of Adam's shirt, pulling his face up close to his own.

"Don't say another word, punk, or I'll rip out your throat so that you can't say anything at all," Chase growled, his voice terribly low and terribly familiar.

"S-Spike?" Adam gasped.

"Got a problem with that?" Spike snarled.

* * *

**AN: Again, a little AU, but I guess this is FanFiction, so... yeah.**

**Oh, and Spike's back.**

**That is all I'm going to say about the story itself, and before I go, I will again thank you all for the really nice comments... this should be no surprise, but you all are awesome! Reading the comments is my favorite part about coming on here :)**

**Anywho, stay tuned for Chapter 9! Asori out.**


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey guys, somebody call a Houston and tell him we have a problem!" Adam nervously called to Bree and Leo, who were visibly stunned.

Spike shoved Adam back in disgust, sauntering away to take in his surroundings.

"Wha-what's he doing here? I thought Mr. Davenport got rid of him!" Bree sputtered, breaking out of her stupor.

"Yeah, I don't think it worked," Adam said, swallowing.

"What's this?" Spike asked sneeringly, holding up one of Mr. Davenport's latest inventions to investigate it further.

"That is Mr. Davenport's, and you might want to put that down before it does something," Leo said hurriedly, hopping up to stop Spike.

"Hey!" Spike barked as Leo pried the object from his grasp.

"I'm doing this for your own good, because you never know what might blow up around here," Leo quickly explained before Spike could interrupt him, growing more and more agitated as the app glared at him threateningly.

"Kindness is weakness," Spike finally hissed, turning away. Leo remained where he was, wide-eyed and gulping.

"What are we going to do with him?" Bree asked worriedly, Leo and Adam only shrugging in response. Spike acted as if he couldn't hear them. "I know!" Bree suddenly said. "Spike, why don't you join Adam in playing a video game?"

"What!" Adam exclaimed.

Spike smirked, clearly pleased by how dismayed Adam was. Spike simply said "Alright." He went to stand by where Adam was sitting, scrutinizing the screen. "Get on with it."

"Do you even know how to play video games?" Leo asked.

"Of course I do!" Spike snapped defensively, glaring at the younger boy.

"No you don't," Leo argued, forgetting it was Spike he was talking to.

Spike glowered at him, growling "Try saying that again, cockroach," as he stalked over to Leo, getting in his face.

"Let's calm down and think of… sleeping wallabies, okay?" Leo asked quickly in a high pitched voice. "It's not a bad thing that you don't know how to play video games… it's actually a _good_ thing!"

"How?" Spike asked suspiciously.

"Well, we can just show you how to play, and it will be more fun for you, right?"

Spike still looked unconvinced, but he followed Leo back in front of the TV. At Leo's motioning, he sat and took the controller he was offered.

As Leo walked Spike through the mechanics of the game, Bree couldn't help but be amazed. Three days ago Spike had tried to kill them, but now they were teaching him how to play video games. _This is a strange world we live in,_ she thought.

Bree watched her brothers and Spike (he only counted as half a brother because he was an app on her actual brother's bionic chip) play game after game, and she often – though making sure it was in secret – laughed at how into it Spike got and how happy he seemed to be whenever there was an explosion on screen. Bree noted that he had a funny giggle, but when she thought about it, it was also a scary giggle because normally when you heard it, you knew someone was going to get hurt.

Bree was in the process of deciding whether she liked or disliked Spike when Mr. Davenport came in, asking "Did Leo ditch you?" when he saw her sitting at the table alone.

"He's kind of doing something more important right now," Bree said, confused that her father didn't see the obvious.

"Since when have video games become more important than homework?" he asked her with a frown.

"Oh!" Bree exclaimed, realizing that her father-figure didn't know that it was Spike, not Chase. "It's not the video games; Leo and Adam are entertaining Spike until Chase comes back."

"_Spike!_" Mr. Davenport's eyes bugged out, and his head whipped around to study the three boys.

"Yes! We got the power-up points!" Leo shouted at that moment as Adam yelled "Woo-hoo! Now I can get the bunny costume!" and Spike merely roared, looking ready to smash the controller in excitement.

Mr. Davenport turned back to his daughter, appearing to be about to scream in shock and frustration. "How did this _happen?_ I got _rid_ of him!" he exclaimed as quietly as he could manage.

"I guess not," Bree said simply.

Mr. Davenport stormed out of the room, bumping into his wife on the way.

"What's wrong?" Tasha asked him, but he just shook his head, muttering as he made his way quickly to the elevator.

"What's going on?" Tasha asked Bree.

"Spike sho-" Bree began to explain when Leo interrupted her, announcing "Good news everyone, Chase is back!"

"What?" Tasha asked, looking extremely confused.

"Well, Spike _was_ just here, but now Chase is back," Bree clarified.

"I thought Donald got rid of him," Tasha said.

"So did we, until Spike showed up again."

At this point the three boys joined the ladies of the family, Chase looking quite disgruntled. And it was undoubtedly him, being that he looked like he only wanted to disappear, something Spike would never approve of.

"I don't understand, I thought Spike would be gone forever," Chase said, unable to look at anyone else. "I thought I was free of him."

"Nope, so sad," Adam said, not looking sorry at all. "He's definitely more fun to play with than you." Chase shot his older brother an angry look at that.

"None of you are hurt?" Tasha asked, looking the teenagers over.

"Nope, I kept him calm because I am _the_ master of Spike," Leo boasted.

"For the last time, neither I nor Spike is a _dog!_" Chase burst out. His facial expression began to flicker, and he staggered back, asking "What's going on?" his voice changing rapidly between his and Spike's as much as his facial expression was.

"Chase, are you alright?" Tasha asked worriedly, looking considerably freaked out.

"No Mom, stay back!" Leo said quickly, protectively pulling his mother away from the glitching bionic. Adam and Bree had also stepped back, Adam watching his younger brother with concern and fear. He would have been happy to go another round of their video game with the app, but this time there seemed to be something wrong. "I don't think Spike's going to play nice this time," he said.

"No, I won't let Spike out!" a strained Chase forced out, his voice breaking as he spit out the words.

"I'll get Mr. Davenport!" Bree said, speeding out of the room and arriving seconds later with the baffled billionaire.

"What's going on?" he spluttered, and Adam answered, saying "Chase and Spike are fighting!"

"No, that's not how it works, Adam," Bree said in annoyance before turning back to Mr. Davenport. "Chase is having a major glitch with Spike."

At this point Chase was leaning against the table heavily, shaking and breathing hard, often twitching.

"Do something!" Leo pitched in.

"What am I supposed to do? It's a glitch – we'll have to wait it out," Mr. Davenport said reluctantly, looking at his struggling adopted son. "Tasha, Leo, why don't the three of us go over here –" he gestured to the living room area "– while Bree and Adam watch him."

"What!" Adam burst out a second time that day. "I don't want Spike to kill me!"

"Adam, we are the only ones who stand a chance against him," Bree explained, keeping her eyes fixed on her younger brother. "We have to watch over him. If we work together, I'm sure we can hold him off. We've seen how he fights, so we'll be better prepared. We can't be surprised this time."

Adam turned back to the youngest bionic, panic growing in his gut. This was going to be big, and it certainly wouldn't be good. He knew that for a fact.


	10. Chapter 10

_Commando App Disengaged._ Chase saw the familiar words flash across his vision as he had the disorienting experience of coming back to consciousness. _Oh no,_ he thought.

He looked around him in shock, seeing that he was in a room of ruin. But as he examined his surroundings, he realized that he knew this room – this was the main living area of his house.

But now it was havoc, completely trashed. Broken furniture and glass laid on the ground around him, and he saw frequent scorch marks across many surfaces.

But what held his attention were two bodies lying terribly still at his feet – Adam and Bree. Mr. Davenport, Tasha, and Leo were nowhere to be seen.

"No…" Chase choked, falling to his knees. As tears escaped him, he searched his siblings, looking for any sign of life. Relief washed over him when he discovered that they were in fact alive, but only just. Scanning them quickly, he saw that they each had sustained a broken bone or two, and there was mild internal bleeding for both of them. The side of Adam's face was bruising, swelling up – he had been hit in the head, _hard._

But they were still breathing, their hearts were still pumping. They were simply knocked out.

Chase felt the familiar feelings of guilt, shame, and hopelessness wash over him. Spike was _worse_ than before.

Chase heard a rustling to his left, and he looked to see Mr. Davenport poking his head around the corner of the doorway into the kitchen/dining area. "Mr. Davenport! They need medical help!" Chase cried out, causing the man to jump.

"Oh good, you're back, Chase," Mr. Davenport said without much enthusiasm, casting aside a large stick he had been carrying as he warily rushed over to the bionics. "We would have helped them sooner, but we didn't dare come near Spike."

"Where are Tasha and Leo?" Chase asked worriedly.

"Leo is watching over Tasha."

"Is she okay? What happened?" Chase asked, horrified.

"We can explain that later, we just need to help your brother and sister right now," Mr. Davenport said tersely, not looking at his youngest bionic son.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Chase asked tentatively.

"No, you've done enough for one day. Just go to your capsule," Mr. Davenport replied.

Chase's physical features hardened as he felt his heart break, only swallowing before numbly getting up and walking to the elevator. He heard Leo's voice softly consoling his mother, but they were not within Chase's line of sight. He wanted so badly to see how they were doing, but he knew that if he did, they would scream, fearing an attack from the ruthless monster that dwelled within him.

So instead he hung his head, shuffling into the elevator, not moving as he waited for it to arrive at the lab. But as he stepped into the lab, he realized that he wanted to be anywhere but this house at that moment. He wanted to run away from this nightmare, if only to protect his family from further harm. But he also knew that in doing so, he was risking the lives of other people, and his family would come looking for him, if only to protect other people from him.

Chase realized that even down here, no one was safe. Only when he was truly locked up would anyone ever be safe again. With that depressing thought coursing through his mind, the bionic hacked Mr. Davenport's computer, searching through lists and descriptions of the billionaire's classified, secure, off-shore facilities, and he quickly found the perfect one.

It was a number of miles off the Canadian west coast, currently not in use, but it was the makings for the perfect prison. It was built to store and protect potentially dangerous technology. Chase figured he was qualified.

He unlocked the facility and set a time for complete and permanent lock-up, making sure it would happen after he arrived. He verified that the plumbing, heating and cooling, food supply, clothing, and garbage disposal would be self-regulated before he got too hasty. He then sent the coordinates to Mr. Davenport's helicopter, setting it so it wouldn't track its course or distance and would come back to the mansion afterwards. And lastly, he commenced the start up of the helicopter in order to get it warmed up as he went out to it.

With that taken care of, he erased his work and disabled his GPS app, making sure that no one would find out about what he had done and where he had gone. He couldn't allow his family to risk letting him out.

With a shuddering sigh, Chase took one last look at the lab, the only place he had known until Tasha and Leo's arrival. There were so many memories here, so many nostalgic moments that threatened to overwhelm him, flashing before his eyes. _No, can't think - don't think - or you'll never leave. You know you have to,_ he told himself vehemently, shaking himself free from the memories. Before he could change his mind, Chase went out to the helicopter and climbed in, flying away from everything he knew and loved in the effort to preserve it. _Goodbye, home. Goodbye, life. Goodbye, Mr. Davenport, Adam, Bree, Leo, and Tasha._

_Goodbye._

* * *

**AN: And the unthinkable just happened... the end? Nope.**

**This is a little (more like _a lot_) overdue, but I think that LabRatsFan07's story idea is great! I am attempting to write it now, but I'm afraid to say that it is slow going... I do think it will be good in the end, though. Thanks for the awesome plot idea! And thank you to all of you who have commented on, followed, and/or favorited this story, I can't help but grin every time I get a notification for _Spiked Out!_ You all are amazing!**

**Anywho, stay tuned for Chapter 11!**


	11. Chapter 11

Leo watched his step-father tend to Adam, Bree, and Leo's mom, handling them all with care. Both Big D and Leo had escaped with only minor injuries, but the same couldn't be said for the other three.

"There, that's all I can do," Mr. Davenport said as he examined his work. He had casted what needed to be casted and taped what needed to be taped, that year at medical school surely put to good use now.

"Tasha, you're going to have to just rest and wait for your arm to heal. Adam, Bree, we're going to get you down into your capsules so that you can be properly healed," Mr. Davenport stated, and he got slow nods from everyone else. Bree and Adam had only recently come back to consciousness and were still a little foggy.

"Chase is down there, right?" Bree asked.

"Yes, and I will make sure that Spike can't hurt any of you by locking down all of your capsules once you're inside. None of you will be going to school tomorrow, to say the least."

The three kids looked relieved at that statement, and with the help of Mr. Davenport and Leo, the bionics made it down to the lab. But when they arrived, they all froze.

"Where's Chase?" Leo asked nervously, his head whipping around to make sure the youngest bionic wasn't trying to sabotage them (due to the commando app).

"He's not levitating," Adam observed. "Do you think he discovered how to become even smaller?"

"No, guys. Chase isn't here," Mr. Davenport sighed, rubbing his face. _Teenagers,_ the tech mogul thought tiredly. _Not a good time to hide or run away, kid._

"Wait, he ran off? Are you sure he isn't somewhere else in the house?" Leo asked incredulously.

"Adam, Bree, let's get you in your capsules, and then Leo and I can search for your younger brother," Mr. Davenport instructed, and as soon as the two bionics were in their capsules, he locked them and sound-proofed them so that they could rest. "Come on, Leo, let's go look for Chase."

"Are you sure it's not a Spike hunt?" Leo asked worriedly.

"No, I'm not; it very well could be a hunt for Spike."

* * *

Bree shifted in her capsule, groaning as she tried to keep from crying anymore. If she thought that Thursday had been a nightmare, today had paled that in comparison.

_The flickering stopped, and Spike glowered at them, a crazy light in his eyes. He turned on Adam, immediately attacking the older boy. But this time it was different – Spike seemed to be stronger this time around, and it was made obvious by that in scoring only one hit, Adam was in pain, real pain, and recoiled from the fight._

Bree's breathing quickened and she gulped, trying to calm herself down. But it was with no avail.

_Bree sped over to her older brother's rescue, knocking away Spike's next blow, absorbing much of it as she did. She cried out in pain, surprised by how strong he was; fear gripped her even as Spike did, snarling menacingly "Big mistake."_

She tried to shake herself from these terrible memories as she had tried to shake herself from Spike's grip mere hours ago, but they refused to leave her be, continuing to dance before her eyes. Fear made her heart race at terrible speeds, and she sucked in another trembling breath.

_Calm down, Bree, you're safe now,_ she told herself, willing herself to relax. _But are you really safe? Admit it, you're afraid of Chase, and he's your brother. He lives with you,_ another voice whispered to her, and shame overcame her. What were they going to do?

Two capsules over was Adam, similarly tortured. He watched again and again as Spike beat him in every way, confused how he had become so strong. Adam was the strong one, so how did Spike possess that kind of strength? Maybe Adam had been wrong in calling Chase weak.

_Adam was stunned by how easily Spike avoided his lasers, effortlessly batting away any advances Bree or Adam tried to make to subdue him. Spike was a whirlwind of power, simply playing with the other two bionics as a cat would a mouse. Speed and strength were no longer a match for the commando app._

Adam shifted, rubbing his temples as if that would help him forget earlier that day. But he couldn't keep the images out of his mind; they kept playing over and over like a broken record.

_Adam watched in helpless horror as Spike dueled his sister at high speeds – the commando app wasn't as fast as Bree, but he was pretty darn close. He used a move that made Bree's speed work against her, and he surprised her, clipping her under the chin. Her eyes rolled up as her head snapped back, and she went limp, falling backwards. Spike roared in triumph as Adam roared in fury._

Adam shivered, wishing he could forget what came next. For a while he had, but now it came back to him in full clarity.

_Adam engaged the app, but he knew before the first contact that he had lost. Spike smirked tauntingly throughout the exchange of blows that followed, madness playing across his face even as sheer joy flitted on his lips. Ten minutes ago Spike had been a friend, but now he was a deadly foe. Adam knew this as he saw the app's foot swinging towards the strongman's face, and there was nothing more he could do._

Adam felt like he was going to get sick, tears sliding down his cheeks as he was haunted by the look in Spike's eyes. How could this monster have always lived within his little brother? How could they move on now?


	12. Chapter 12

Chase stepped out of the chopper onto the helicopter pad. As soon as he was out from under it, the machine took off, flying back to where it had come from. He was relieved that the only thing that glitched during the ride was his levitation, because the straps of the seat held him in place; and thus, no damage was done.

* * *

"Big D!" Leo called from upstairs. "He isn't up here!"

"That's what I thought," Mr. Davenport responded. Leo came back to the ruined living area, saying "Where could he have gone in only a few hours?"

"Knowing Chase, he could be _anywhere,_" Mr. Davenport said wryly, and he immediately thought of all the means of transportation that he owned. "We need to check for all of my cars, motorcycles, and the helicopter."

* * *

Chase quickly found the hatch that was the entrance to the facility, and he climbed down the ladder, travelled down a hallway and came to a large, empty room. In a matter of minutes, he heard all the locks of the entrances being automatedly drawn, the rungs of the ladder sliding into the wall, force field walls and shock fences being activated, and the doors being disguised. The chances of someone breaking in were low. The chances of him breaking out were even lower.

* * *

"Everything is here," Mr. Davenport reported, confused. He had been sure that Chase wouldn't have gone on foot.

"Big D, come here," Leo's voice said over the wireless phone headset, and Mr. Davenport quickly joined him where he was at the helicopter.

"Feel the engine – it's still warm," Leo stated, and by feeling it, Mr. Davenport confirmed his step-son's words.

"He flew somewhere – but it couldn't have been very far if it was only a few hours to make a round trip," Mr. Davenport deduced, his hopes rising.

"This baby goes fast – and Chase could have found other forms of transportation after the helicopter. He could be anywhere. Can we find his GPS signal?"

"I already checked – he disabled it. But we can check the helicopter's GPS history," Mr. Davenport realized. He climbed into the cockpit, and after a flurry of keystrokes, Mr. Davenport began scanning all the information the machine held.

He facial expression soon darkened, and he pounded the seat, exclaiming "Dang it, Chase!" The billionaire looked at Leo despondently, saying "He erased all of the helicopter's records and destination points for today, and I can't retrieve them."

* * *

Chase began his time in his new cell by pacing, something he knew he would do often (being that there wasn't much else to do). The large room was rectangular in shape, longer than it was wide, and it had absolutely no adornment. He knew that a part of the floor could open up to a storage shaft, where his necessities to keep him alive were, but it was nothing more than that. He also knew that the only other thing of interest was that one of the walls could open up to a port for shipping, but at this point he was so disoriented without his GPS that he didn't know which one it was. And even if he did still have a sense of direction, while the facility was in lockdown, the port would never open again as long as it held a captive. Not if Chase could help it.

* * *

"What are we going to do? It's not safe for him to be on his own, and we can't just let him run loose while he's glitching so dangerously," Tasha worried aloud, watching her husband pace back and forth, holding his head in his hands as he did so.

"Well, I suppose we'll find him when the news starts covering a raging maniac trying to beat up innocent people," Leo sighed, referencing Spike. "Maybe that will be your next reporting gig, Mom."

Tasha looked frightened at the thought, quickly shaking her head.

"No… running free is the last thing Chase would do," Mr. Davenport said, thinking of how paranoid Chase had been about Spike, to the point where he removed his chip. Then it dawned on him. "He went to one of my off-shore facilities!"

"How do you know?" Tasha asked.

"Because I had a conversation with him about it earlier today," Mr. Davenport said sheepishly. "He really didn't want to be locked up in one of them, but I think he's come to the realization that that is the only thing he can do to protect everyone else, short of taking out his chip."

"Great! It can't be that hard to figure out which one he's at, but even if it is, we can just go out and search each one ourselves, and we'll have Chase back in no time," Leo said optimistically, hopping up from the couch where he had been sitting next to his mother.

"No, Leo," Mr. Davenport said softly, and Leo froze in place.

"What?" he asked, stunned.

"No, he needs to stay at whatever facility he's at – he's too dangerous, and he knows that. That's the best place for him."

"All alone?" Leo asked disbelievingly.

"Yes."

"Will we ever see him again?"

Mr. Davenport paused, swallowing back his hurting heart that seemed to be bubbling up his throat. "No, at least not in person. There are likely only security cameras there, so we can watch him, but we can't interact with him. I never installed communication devices into those buildings because I didn't anticipate locking a _person_ in one of them."

Leo fell back numbly, and his mother began to rub him consolingly. "Donald, are you sure there isn't another way?" Tasha asked.

"Not that I know of – Chase will have to stay there until we find another option, if there is one. But I don't think there is." He paused yet again, letting his features sag with sadness. "We'll have to tell Adam and Bree."

* * *

**AN: Oh man, this is getting heavy (especially for a semi-humor story). But don't worry, my friends, we are not done yet - not by far. Sort of.**

**As is customary by now, thank you for the awesome reviews! Whenever I come on here, my family asks "Why are you smirking?" Well, it's not really a smirk -it's more a 'grinning like an idiot' smile xD**

**Anyways, as is also customary, hang in there for Chapter 13!**


	13. Chapter 13

_Ugh,_ Chase inwardly groaned. _I am_ sooo _bored,_ he thought to himself. He'd have to get used to it, though – he wasn't going anywhere. He only wished the transition from abundant stimulation to zero stimulation could be easier. _My brain is too used to being busy._

He sighed, getting up from where he had been sitting on the floor. He had only been here for four hours, his world clock informed him, but already he wasn't sure he could stand it any longer without cracking. What bothered him most was that he didn't have a choice.

He was itching to do something,_ anything,_ so he thought about his options. He could sit and think, he could play with his bionics, he could pace and think, or – he was a little wary of this option and it didn't really appeal to him at the moment – he could exercise for the sake of killing time. He never thought he would come to this point in his life, but he also hadn't foreseen locking himself up.

He wanted to play with his bionics a little bit, but he wasn't sure that that would be a good idea, being that he had already glitched three times since his arrival (the magnetism glitch had been brutal – the entire building was comprised of metal).

So he settled for pacing. He was ninety-eight percent sure that he was going to be doing a lot of it in the future.

* * *

"So he's staying there for the _rest of his life?_" Bree asked, her eyes wide. She couldn't imagine cutting herself off from all other life forms so cruelly. Just being grounded from using her phone was torture.

"That's the sacrifice he's willing to make for us and for the world," Mr. Davenport said somberly.

"Sacrifice? It's not like he had a life anyways," Adam joked in an attempt to lighten the mood, but when it was ill received, he fell serious again.

They all looked back to the holographic screen, watching Chase pace back and forth from a security camera that was in a high up corner of the room. It hadn't been difficult to figure out which facility he was in – they merely had to look at Mr. Davenport's bank account and see that one of his many storage units had suddenly started to draw a small but steady amount of money that day. Even Chase couldn't hide that.

After that, it was only a matter of accessing the monitoring system, which the youngest bionic had hastily ignored, and thus his family was able to see him in live time.

Bree was ashamed that she _almost_ felt a small amount of satisfaction in seeing her brother locked up like this, but it wasn't like she wasn't justified. Though that face may be the face of Chase Davenport, her little brother, it was also the face of Spike, who had tried to kill her and Adam _twice_. In a matter of days.

And it wasn't like he wasn't obnoxious, nerdy, arrogant, annoying… oh who was she kidding? She already missed her brother so much, she was in physical pain. She and Adam deeply cared for Chase and knew him inside and out; they had been raised in a basement for fifteen years with only each other for company, after all. Seeing that their little brother was so unhappy, so lonely, and the fact that they couldn't do anything besides watch just tore at Bree's heart terribly.

She was thinking of a way to convince the others that Chase could come back when her thoughts were rudely interrupted by action on the screen in front of her. Chase had started to float, presumably against his will, being that he looked to be struggling. He was saying something, but the camera didn't record sounds, so none of them knew what it was. What they could tell was that he looked extremely annoyed and frustrated (which really wasn't abnormal for him).

Adam turned away from the screen at that, looking distraught. Normally he would laugh at funny glitches like that one, but this time it was different. He wanted so badly to be there for his brother, even if they did quarrel often, because as the oldest, it was his duty to protect his siblings. And Adam wanted to protect Chase from his own bionics. "Mr. Davenport, we have to _do_ something. We can't just sit here and watch him suffer," Adam demanded.

"There isn't anything we _can_ do, Adam," Bree said gently.

"Why can't Big D try and fix Chase's chip again?" Leo asked.

All eyes turned to the head of the household, and he sighed. "Look what happened to his chip when I tried to fix it before – he's worse off because of what I did."

"But you have to try again – you are still his only chance," Bree pressed.

Their eyes were drawn back to the screen as suddenly Chase dropped like a stone, falling the five-ish feet between him and the ground. He looked angry and ever more frustrated, and in the next moment they saw his expression grow vicious. Spike was back for a third time that day.

He looked to be talking to himself, storming throughout the room and pounding on the walls with worrying force. But the walls gave little to encourage the app, seeming to merely taunt him. Roaring in aggravation, he gave up after a minute or two, his head whipping around, seeking out an opponent. But there was none.

Spike seemed to comprehend the fact that he was imprisoned, and he clenched and unclenched his fists. He bellowed yet another time, for good measure, before huffing in defeat. He began pacing around the room in a frenzied, worked up manner.

Bree turned back to her father-figure, saying desperately "Please Mr. Davenport, you have to help him!"

"What if I make it even worse for him?" Mr. Davenport asked, anxiety owning his features.

"Can it really get any worse?" Leo wondered aloud.

There was a long pause before Mr. Davenport said "Give me a little time to think about it, alright? This isn't a decision I'm going to make lightly, and another day or two isn't going to kill Chase."

"Are you sure about that?" Leo asked seriously.

Mr. Davenport sighed again. "I will decide quickly, I promise. But I'm not going to do it right now," he stated, deftly ending the conversation.


	14. Chapter 14

_Commando App Disengaged._ Chase saw his three least favorite words flash across his vision for the fourth time that day. The first time, he was told that Spike learned to play video games. Which was weird. The second time Spike had trashed his home and hurt his family. The third time, he had come out after Chase's levitation glitch. And then this time Spike _was_ the glitch.

Chase sighed, simply tired of it all. He was tired of being bored, he was tired of glitching all the time, and he was tired of being lonely. He had tried sleeping, but he kept being awoken by glitches. So now he was also tired physically.

He stumbled to his feet, stretching out his limbs and loosening his joints. Spike had gotten his adrenaline pumping, but this time the app hadn't used it. That meant that Chase would just have to work the fidgets out of his system himself.

Chase set himself in the ready stance that he assumed when he started a hand-to-hand combat duel, using his holograph ability to project an opponent that he had created earlier that day. It wasn't anywhere near as advanced as what Mr. Davenport had, but Chase knew that he would have plenty of time to perfect it.

The hologram attacked the bionic, and Chase parried the blow, finding it awkward that he couldn't actually feel the insubstantial program. The two battled it out, Chase simply going through the motions. This program was much too easy for him.

He gave another sigh - this time in defeat - as he ended the hologram. He resigned to just practicing the basic forms of the martial arts he knew, looking to perfect his technique. He progressively sped up, making his way through the more and more complex forms, working up a sweat as he did so.

Chase was interrupted by the sound of metal being cut by a laser, and his head whipped around to see that someone was in fact trying to break into the room. "No, stop it Adam! You can't let me out; I might hurt you!" Chase shouted.

There was no reply - which Chase thought was strange - and in a matter of moments the metal came crashing inwards, revealing Douglas standing in the rectangular hole. "Surprise, surprise!" the evil genius said with a smirk.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in?" Chase asked, dumbfounded.

"I have a special GPS signal in your chip that only I can track, and I saw that you were out here and staying out here. Further investigation confirmed that you were planning to stay here for the rest of your life," Douglas explained.

"Stalker," Chase coughed.

Douglas glowered at his biological son, saying "I keep tabs on all three of you! And I care about ya, which is why I came out here."

"How did you even make it this far?"

"Psssh, are you kidding me? Ol' Donnie doesn't have a thing I can't hack. I disabled all of the security systems for the island and simply walked right in."

"Why'd you cut your way into the room then?"

"Who wouldn't use their metal-cutting laser whenever they had the opportunity? And besides, it looks cooler."

Chase rolled his eyes at the man's immaturity. "So, you have a reason for being here? Just spit it out so I can get rid of you."

"I want to know why you're out here."

"All your stalking prowess, and you couldn't figure out the obvious?"

"It's research," Douglas argued. "And by the way, all my information is restricted to what I have access to on the records. But I think I know what it is."

"What?"

"You're sick of being pushed around by your older siblings, you're tired of being unappreciated and feeling like the least powerful, because _they_ don't understand the true supremacy of intelligence," Douglas said smugly.

"Really," Chase said sarcastically. "Tell me more why I would lock _myself_ up if that was the reason."

Douglas opened his mouth, but closed it again, at a loss for words. "Well, I, uh, can give you all the powers you've ever dreamed of," he offered weakly.

"You don't get it, do you?"

"No, I really don't. You're crazy, kid, to lock _yourself_ up."

"Is it really that crazy? I locked myself up because I'm _too_ powerful."

"That doesn't make sense! You could have anything and everything you ever wanted, but instead you put yourself under the lock and throw away the key? That really is crazy."

"Maybe for you, but my family has been hurt by my power, and I can't let it happen again," Chase replied with stubborn conviction. His expression made clear that he was determined to remain resolute.

Douglas picked this up, and genuinely intrigued, he asked "How? How did you hurt them?"

Chase scowled at his true father's enthusiasm, but he bluntly told him anyways: "Spike keeps coming out and he nearly killed Adam and Bree a couple of times. And now I keep glitching dangerously."

"Ha! _That's_ why you locked yourself up?"

"Got a better idea?" Chase snapped.

"Yeah, I would just remove Spike, if I were you. You obviously don't need him."

Chase ignored the flattery, saying "We already tried that; that's why I'm here now."

"But who tried to remove the app? Donnie? You know he's not as smart as I am – and besides, I'm the one who designed your chips. Why couldn't I remove the app?"

Chase looked interested in this, but he was still undecided.

Sensing the boy's indecision, Douglas added "I'll even throw in the power upgrade for you."

"At what cost?" Chase asked suspiciously.

"To come back to your dad, of course! And that's not a cost by the way – it's a benefit! I love you (I can love you better than Donnie can), so what do you say that you come back to your pop?"

"We've already been through this, Douglas – I'm not betraying my family."

"I am your family!"

"You made me the mess I am now! You're the one who put that stupid commando app on my chip in the first place, so if you really cared about me, you'd just remove it because you owe it to me!" Chase exclaimed.

Douglas looked away, sighing. "Alright, I'll remove it and let you go."

"Really?" Chase asked incredulously.

"Yes, you're right. I owe it to you. Will you let me fix your chip?"

After a long moment of the bionic trying to decide whether Douglas was lying or not, Chase finally relented, saying "Okay, I'll go with you. Just remove Spike, and nothing more. Then I'm out."

"Deal," Douglas said, shaking Chase's hand firmly.

* * *

**AN: Douglas.**

**That's all I'm going to say about the story. ****As usual, thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows! And that is it for this short authors note - be ready for Chapter 15!**


	15. Chapter 15

Mr. Davenport pulled up the live recording from the security camera the next morning, but he and his waiting family were astounded to see only an empty metal room, a rectangle with burned sides cut into one wall.

Startled comments exploded from the Davenports and Leo, but the billionaire quickly calmed them down.

"What happened? Did Chase discover that he has laser vision now too?" Adam asked in annoyance.

"Why would Chase escape? He locked himself up so that he couldn't get out, even if he wanted to," Bree said, frowning.

"Maybe he finally cracked (which didn't take long)," Leo commented.

"Or maybe it was Spike who escaped," Bree theorized.

"Let's look at the tapes from earlier and find out," Mr. Davenport said, retrieving the wanted files.

They started where they had last seen Chase and worked forward from there. They sped through him doing more pacing, sitting, laying down, and more glitches than they could count. Finally, at four a.m., Chase got up and was fighting a holographic figure, but after a few exchanges, he shut off the hologram and simply stood there angrily. He instead started practicing his basic forms and worked his way up.

It really got interesting when he froze and looked to the wall, and the rest of his family followed his lead, seeing someone from the outside begin to cut through the metal with a laser. Mr. Davenport slowed the tape to normal speed.

"Someone broke in!" Bree exclaimed. "They kidnapped Chase!"

Chase said something, and in a few moments the metal that was being cut out of the wall fell inwards, revealing a figure that they couldn't see on the camera because of their position.

Chase looked to be talking to the mysterious person, and slowly the person walked into the room, stepping over the slab of the thick metal wall laying on the ground.

"It's Evil Uncle-Daddy!" Adam exclaimed.

"Douglas," Mr. Davenport cursed, and they watched intently as the bionic and his evil father had a conversation. Chase's family wished more than ever that they could hear what was being said.

To their astonishment, the two on screen shook hands, and Chase in turn followed Douglas out of the room and out of view.

"Did we just watch Chase go over to the dark side?" Leo asked disbelievingly.

"It's got to be some kind of trick – maybe he wanted us to think that he went with Douglas. He might be acting as a double agent again," Bree suggested hopefully.

"No," Mr. Davenport said softly, and everyone turned to look at him. "I doubt Chase even knows about the security cameras – otherwise he would've made sure we couldn't watch him."

"So Chase really went with Douglas?" Adam asked, dumbfounded.

"I guess," Mr. Davenport said, looking down in hurt and shame. _I guess I really screwed up,_ he thought to himself mournfully.

* * *

"So how long have you been out of your capsule?" Douglas asked Chase as he guided the visually impaired bionic. To Douglas' benefit, Chase's super-sight had glitched (causing him to see only in large pixels) while they were still in the helicopter, and even then in Douglas' lair Chase's sight hadn't yet returned.

"Something else the records don't tell you when you stalk us?" Chase retorted snidely.

"No, and must we go over this _again?_ I'm not stalking!"

"Whatever."

"I seriously need to know, how long has it been since you've been in your capsule?"

"About fifteen hours."

"And Donnie tried fixing you the day before?"

"Yes."

"And you reinserted your chip that night?"

"Yes. Why are you interrogating me? What does this matter?"

"Because it means my older brother is stupid and knows next to nothing about your bionics. You can't just alter a chip, you have to also alter the capsule; otherwise it will repair the chip. It was in the process of doing just that when you were awoken, I assume, so being stuck in an in-between stage, your chip is malfunctioning. And because your cell had no capsule, you couldn't have recharged or repaired, so you probably would have worn away within the next couple of weeks, if that," Douglas explained effortlessly.

Chase was impressed. He would need to report to Mr. Davenport this new information.

"Okay, step carefully, we are going down stairs," Douglas warned Chase, who nodded somewhat appreciatively. "You can't afford an elevator?" the bionic asked mockingly, prodding his biological father verbally.

"No, I can't, not yet," Douglas pouted.

At that moment Chase's vision returned and he said "Okay, the glitch is over, so you can let go of me." He quickly shook off the man's grasp as he voiced that statement. Douglas looked hurt, but not surprised.

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and after a couple of crude hallways and a heavy metal door, they walked into a lab similar to Mr. Davenport's, but it certainly had a darker feeling to it. Chase suppressed a chill of foreboding.

"Why don't you go into the middle capsule over there so that I can extract your chip," Douglas instructed. "You can sleep in there while I work on your chip and recalibrate the capsule."

Chase gave him a grateful look, doing as he was told. He noticed that a chip extractor was already in the capsule. Before he could say a word, he heard the capsule lock up, and his heart rate doubled. _Oh no, I was wrong about him!_

"Douglas let me out!" he screamed through the glass, but his diabolical captor simply smiled sadistically, hitting a button on his cyber desk. Immediately some kind of gas filled the capsule, and with that, Chase fell unconscious.

* * *

**AN: This is where it gets good! It's a little AU, but that's what FanFiction is for, right? Oh, and to answer possible future questions, Douglas didn't know why Chase was in the facility but had a chip extractor ready anyways... suspicious? Don't worry if you didn't catch that, I missed it too as I was rereading this from six(ish) months ago - and I _wrote_ it :S**

**Many of you predicted something along these lines, and a shout out to ShyMusic, who is practically _psychic_ \- Evil Uncle-Daddy! By the way, and this might be getting annoying by now, but thank you yet again for all the kind reviews, the favorites, and the follows! I can't forget about ya because you all make my day (even though I don't reply because I don't dare spoil anything!)**

**So, on that note... what's going to happen next? You'll have to wait until Chapter 16 to find out! See you all then!**


	16. Chapter 16

"Where can they _be?_" Bree exclaimed in annoyance.

"Maybe you could let me take a shot? I _am_ the mission specialist, so I know this computer like the back of my hand," Leo said proudly, taking Bree's place at the computer monitor.

"You know the back of your _hand?_ What's its name?" Adam asked in fascinated curiosity.

The younger teenagers rolled their eyes, Bree snapping "Adam! It's just an expression!" Bree had noticed right away that things were different when Chase was gone. For starters, now she was the one stuck with correcting all of Adam's (literally) mindless comments and questions.

Twenty minutes later, Leo hadn't been able to come up with anything that they didn't already know, and the younger two groaned in defeat.

"Why don't we just ask Mr. Davenport for help?" Adam asked.

"Because Big D already gave up," Leo said angrily, and it was for the most part true. Since they had seen the video clip of Chase and Douglas, the billionaire had been moping around the place in visible distraught, looking for any excuse to leave the house so that he wouldn't be reminded of his absent nephew.

"This is a rescue mission – we have to rescue our brother from Douglas, even if we're on our own," Bree explained. "Chase may have chosen to go with Douglas, but we can still try to talk him out of it and help him realize his mistake."

"Assuming we can _find them!_" Leo burst out in frustration, pounding his fist on the desk. "Owww…" he said quietly in his high-pitched voice he used when he was in pain, shaking his hand. The other two teens sighed in exasperation.

"I don't get it – how hard can it really be to find an evil genius? Do we have to look at some kind of black market or something?" Bree asked.

"Well, if Douglas' really a genius, I should think he would be able to hide himself from the public eye," Leo said, and there was a long pause in the conversation. "Why did Chase go with him? Do you think Chase would actually change his mind if we talked to him?" Leo asked wonderingly.

"This is _Chase_ we're talking about, _of course_ he would," Bree retorted resolutely, astounded that Leo could think that.

"Really? Look at them: Douglas and Chase, father and son. They're both a younger sibling, they're both super smart and cocky about it, and they even look alike," Leo pointed out. "Are they so different?"

"Yes, those two are nothing alike!" Bree argued furiously, disgusted with the younger boy.

"Leo is right though," Adam said. "I mean, they both have the same outdated haircut."

Bree simply scowled, turning away from her brothers. She refused to believe that Chase was evil. "If this is how you guys are going to be, I'll just go find him myself," she huffed, storming out of the room.

* * *

"First Chase, now Bree – Adam, I'm keeping my eye on you!" Leo threatened good-naturedly.

"Only one? I thought most people watched stuff with both eyes," Adam stated, confused.

Leo sighed, tired of having to be the brain for the two of them. Bree had been gone for hours now – and there was no telling where she could be. She had turned off her GPS signal just as Chase had.

Leo had already tried his hand at looking for the missing two bionics again, but he had come out unsuccessful. With nothing else to do, the two boys had decided to go upstairs and try to assume the face of normalcy – video games.

"What do you want to play?" Adam asked as he dug through their small library of video games.

"I don't care," Leo said truthfully. He wasn't sure he wanted to play any games at all, but being that the Davenport-Dooley kids had been home from school since Chase's disappearance, they were starting to get tired of being numb and were, quite frankly, bored. They needed something to get their minds off of the current state of their family.

The two felt a strange wind, and Leo shouted "Bree! You're back!" But when he spun around to look for their sister, he instead saw his older brother, the youngest bionic, and none other than Chase Davenport.

"Chase!" Adam and Leo exclaimed simultaneously, but they froze when they caught the bionic's facial expression.

"Chase?" Leo asked weakly.

"I'm not here for hugs, numbskulls," the bionic growled, and Leo realized his mistake. This in fact _was_ someone other than Chase – this was Spike. "The pretty boy is coming with me," the app snarled.

"Where are you taking me?" Leo asked, wide eyed.

"Not _you,_" Spike sighed in vexation.

"Oh, thanks," Leo sulked. "Where are you taking him?"

"That's none of your business."

"It's every bit my business!"

"Where's the other one?" Spike demanded, changing the subject abruptly.

"We don't know – Bree turned off her GPS signal when she left to go looking for _you._"

Spike glowered at him, and in a _whoosh!_ he was at Adam's side, grabbing the oldest bionic before _whooshing_ off, leaving Leo alone in the house.

"Noooo! _Whyyyyy?_" Leo cried out. "I even kept both of my eyes on him!"

He stopped suddenly when he heard beeping, and movie-based instincts kicked in. He made a beeline for the outside world, not even making it all the way down the driveway before he was thrown to the ground as the house blew up.

* * *

Bree Davenport was stunned when she saw her leveled house. She quickly spotted Mr. Davenport, Leo, and Tasha in the crowd that had gathered around the yellow tape that circled their house. She ran up to them as swiftly as she could without using her super-speed, frantically asking "_What happened?_"

"Spike kidnapped Adam and bombed the house," Leo said bluntly.

"What!" Bree exclaimed in astonishment, looking back at the blackened rubble that was her home. "_When?_"

"About an hour and a half ago," Mr. Davenport said, staring longingly at what used to be his mansion. Turning back to her, he demanded "Where _were_ you?" His concern was evident in his tone.

Bree looked away uncomfortably, saying "I was looking for Chase."

"Where?" Mr. Davenport questioned, asking moodily "Were you expecting to find him?"

"No, but it's better than not looking at all," she shot back, glaring at her father figure.

"They don't want to be found, Bree. Chase has made his choice."

"But now Adam's been taken! And that wasn't his choice. Are you just going to let Douglas take me too?"

"_No,_ Bree, never!" Mr. Davenport said quickly, putting his hand on her shoulder in reassurance. "We are going to try to protect you even more now, if anything."

"But what about Adam? We have to rescue him at the least! What's the point of being bionic if you're just going to hide us away anyways?" Bree looked at her father steadily, waiting for his response.

"Donald, you know she's right," Tasha pitched in.

"Yeah, you can't be serious about abandoning Adam now!" Leo added, scowling at the tech mogul.

Mr. Davenport looked at the three of them, his face softening before he sighed. "Fine, you're right, we do have to go find them and at least get Adam back."

"And Chase," Leo said firmly.

"And Chase," Mr. Davenport relented, though he still looked doubtful.

"But how do we find them? I thought you weren't able to find them before; how is this time any different?" Tasha questioned.

Bree's face brightened, and she said "Chase may have turned off his GPS signal, but Adam didn't."

"Yeah!" Leo exclaimed with a newfound hope; a grin encompassed his features. "Now if only we could get to…" his smile faded.

"The lab," Mr. Davenport finished, and the four of them looked to the ruined house.

"Do you think the lab is alright since it's underground?" Bree asked.

"Even if it is, we risk a cave-in while we're down there," Mr. Davenport replied.

"But we don't have to be down there very long," Bree said. "I have super speed, remember?"

"But how do we get down there without anyone seeing us?" Leo asked.

"How do we get down there, period?" Tasha added.

"We'll come back tonight, when it's dark. No one has to know," Mr. Davenport assured them.

"What if someone finds the lab by then?" Leo asked.

"They won't," Mr. Davenport scoffed.

"What if it caves in by then?" Leo pressed.

"Let's hope it doesn't."

"What if it's already caved-in?"

"What if the sun explodes before we can make it to the lab?" Mr. Davenport sarcastically asked in annoyance. "Everything will be _fine,_ Leo."

"I hope so; but what if-"

"We get it, Leo!" Bree cut in. "It's the best plan we've got, and we'll just have to see how it turns out."


	17. Chapter 17

"We're here," Mr. Davenport said, parking the car and turning off the ignition.

"So cliché," Bree commented, clearly unimpressed. "A warehouse? Really? That's _totally_ original."

Mr. Davenport, Tasha, Bree, and Leo all climbed out of the car, squinting into the darkness at the warehouse that had been illuminated while the headlights were on. Locking the car and turning on his flashlight, Mr. Davenport led what was left of his family toward the building warily. They had come straight from the ruined Davenport Mansion, following Adam's GPS signal to this lonely building.

In sneaking through the rubble earlier that night, they had been relieved to find that the house had not been crawling with people. It had not been too difficult to find a way to get to the lab, which was (surprisingly) still in one piece for the most part. Needless to say, their worst fears had not come true.

Back to the present, upon walking up to the metal building, they were not shocked to see that the large door to the warehouse was locked with a padlock. The padlock, however, was no obstacle for Bree. She broke it easily, her bionics doing the job. Mr. Davenport pulled open the door just wide enough so that they could slip through, but no wider than that.

"What's in here?" Leo asked, his gaze following the flashlight beam as it shone on miscellaneous farm junk. "If this isn't it, where is the entrance supposed to be, then?"

"We'll just have to look around. It seems like there are no other storage spaces, so that means my brother is underground. Look for something in the floor," Mr. Davenport instructed.

They split up, and after five minutes of searching and bruised shins, Tasha found it. "Donald, I think this is it!" she called.

The other three came over to the place where she was standing, looking at the trap door Tasha had revealed by moving a couple of boxes. "Is this the entrance?" she asked.

"I think so," Leo said, and he gripped the metal ring on the small wooden door, pulling upwards. They saw that there was a staircase going down as soon as the door came free.

"This is too easy, especially for Douglas," Bree said.

"It's called a low budget," Mr. Davenport explained with a shrug. With that, they descended down the staircase, the dark enveloping them.

"This is creepy," Bree said with a shiver, keeping her eyes fixed on the stairs below her, which were tactfully lit up by Mr. Davenport's flashlight. They continued on in silence until they made it to the bottom, seeing a long hallway in front of them with many doors on each side.

"What now? How do we find them in this maze?" Leo asked.

"We'll have to search every room," Mr. Davenport said.

"That'll take forever!"

"Not if I do it," Bree said, and she proceeded to do so with a _whoosh._

A second later they heard her all the way down the hall, saying "There are more hallways down here – I can check these as well."

The three non-bionics jogged to the end of the hallway where Bree had been, and after a second she appeared by their side, saying "I found them." Walking at normal speed, she led them to a metal door, stopping outside of it. "They're both in there," she said.

"Leo, Tasha, I want the two of you to go back to the car and wait for us," Mr. Davenport said, looking at them seriously. "This is going to be dangerous, and the two of you will only be a liability."

"Gee, thanks," Leo said sarcastically. "Glad to know we are appreciated around here."

"He's right, Leo," Bree said. "You've seen what Douglas and Chase (and/or Spike) are capable of."

"Come on, Leo," Tasha said, guiding her son back down the hallway.

"Oh, Bree, I forgot to mention this, but Spike can use bionics – he for sure has super speed now," Leo said quickly, and both Bree's and Mr. Davenport's faces paled.

"Leo! Why didn't you tell us that _before?_" Mr. Davenport hissed.

Leo shrugged, saying "I didn't think of it until now!" Leo was lucky that at that point, he and his mother had rounded the corner and were out of sight.

"What now?" Bree asked hopelessly.

"We wait for a while so that we can give Tasha and Leo time to get out, then we try our best," Mr. Davenport said simply, already looking defeated.

* * *

**AN: Yes, that's it for this chapter. And yes, that was the second shortest chapter so far. The cliffhanger was just too good; sorry peeps :S**

**The support this story has received through reviews, favorites, and follows still blows me away; you guys are awesome!**

**And that is it for this short author's note as well - this story is just picking up pace, so stay tuned for Chapter 18!**


	18. Chapter 18

"Ughhh, why won't you let me _ouuuuut?_" Adam whined, leaning heavily on the glass door of the capsule. "I'm boooored!"

There was no response to his complaining, so he heaved a sigh. "Come on, at least _talk_ to me!" he pleaded, looking at Spike. Well, he thought this was Spike. There really wasn't an easy way to tell unless he was speaking.

The app (or bionic) didn't even glance at Adam, keeping his eyes fixed on the tablet he held as he stood in his own capsule next to Adam's. The oldest bionic didn't know what he was watching, but it was surely more interesting than having nothing to do at all.

As soon as the two of them had arrived here, Adam had been forced into the capsule and had his chip extracted while Spike taunted him. Douglas had taken it with him out of the room to supposedly work on it for a couple of hours, returning later to reinsert it into Adam. Immediately Adam had tried to break out of his capsule, but to his dismay, he found that it could withstand even _his_ super strength.

Since then, Spike (or Chase) had started to glitch, so he went into one of the other capsules and stayed there. After the initial mockery, the other bionic hadn't even acknowledged Adam's existence. Adam was pretty sure he'd rather be verbally beaten up to being totally ignored.

"Hey Ken – you know, as in the girl doll – you look like you could be Barbie's twin sister!" Adam jeered, but there was absolutely no reaction. Not even a flinch. Adam knew that that wasn't his best insult ever, but he starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel at this point. And knowing his little brother, Adam was certain that Chase should have at least bristled at that, and Spike was supposed to roar furiously and attempt to kill him for the third time that week.

But still there was no reaction.

Not even a blink.

And Adam was convinced that something was _very_ wrong. Even he wasn't _that_ stupid. But what it was, Adam couldn't possibly fathom. It usually wasn't the oldest bionic's job to do the problem solving; he generally left that to his siblings, so he was completely helpless now.

Movement caught Adam's eye, and he looked up to see Mr. Davenport and Bree step into the lab cautiously. The oldest bionic's face brightened and he yelled "Mr. Davenport! Bree! Over here!"

At that, Chase's (or Spike's) head shot up, and he stared down the intruders. The two rescuers glared at Adam, all pretense of sneaking in gone. "What do you nugget-heads think you're doing here?" Spike - for it really was Spike - growled, storming out of the capsule to stand between Adam and his liberators.

"Well, we were going to at least attempt to rescue you two-" Mr. Davenport began to say, but he was interrupted rudely by Bree, who elbowed him. "No, we _are_ going to rescue you two," she said firmly.

"Ha! That's cute, cupcake. Why don't you save me the trouble and just step inside the capsule already?" Spike sneered, gesturing to the third capsule.

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm not going to just give in without a fight!" Bree exclaimed indignantly.

"Perfect," Spike said with a sly smile. "It'll be more fun this way." He threw the tablet aside, watching it smash to pieces with satisfaction, getting into a fighting stance. "Let's see what you've got, kitty-cat."

Bree scowled at him, a fire igniting within her eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Mr. Davenport looking at her worriedly, and he warned "Don't hurt him, Bree. Feel free to kick his butt, but nothing more."

"She couldn't hurt a fly," Spike scoffed, grinning evilly as he saw Bree's anger increase.

"Be careful, Chase is still in there," Mr. Davenport reminded her softly, squeezing her shoulder before letting go and stepping back. Bree swallowed nervously, her heart starting to race.

"Come on, Bree, you can do it!" Adam cheered from behind the app, giving her a thumbs-up. She simply smiled sadly, not as sure about that as her older brother was. With a deep breath, Bree took up her own fighting stance, letting her mind go blank. She looked up into Spike's sadistic eyes and knew she was in for her most challenging fight yet. If she failed, all of this would be over. There would be no hope left for them. She was their last hope.

* * *

Mr. Davenport snuck out of the lab just before Bree and Spike were about to go at each other's throats. He was loathe to leave them, but he had a more important job to do than stand on the sidelines. He needed to find his brother.

He was certain that if Douglas had been in any of the rooms Bree had looked in, she would have told him. But being that she hadn't said anything about Douglas, it narrowed down the search and Mr. Davenport knew at least where _not_ to look.

It didn't take long for the billionaire to find his brother's room – it was the only door that was adorned in any way, shape, or form; and that was with a mirror. Mr. Davenport looked at his reflection briefly, smoothing down a stray lock of hair. _Still as handsome as ever,_ he complimented himself cockily.

Getting back to business, he opened the unlocked door, finding Douglas fast asleep in his bed. Mr. Davenport walked up to the bed and ripped off the covers, startling his brother awake. "Get up, Douglas, and start talking!" Donald Davenport shouted.

"Geez, nice to see you to," Douglas grumbled groggily, moving into a sitting position so that he could stand up. "You know, it takes a good night's sleep to look this good."

"I would know better than you," Donald growled.

"No way! You know I've always been the better looking of the two of us (and not to mention the smarter of the two of us as well)!" Douglas retorted.

"For the record, _I'm_ the smarter and more handsome sibling," Donald argued. "But that's beside the point – what have you done to Chase?"

Douglas smirked, saying "I did what you never had the guts to do."

Donald frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

Douglas started pacing around his older brother, a smile playing at his lips. "I turned him into the perfect super-soldier. I gave him as many bionic abilities as I could fit onto his chip, and I modified Spike. I changed the settings so that I can control his aggression level, and once he's activated, he doesn't go away."

"Why you –" Donald began to say, but he cut himself off, choking on his rage. "How did you ever get Chase to comply?"

"I didn't, not technically. I simply told him that I could remove Spike. You _know_ how gullible he is."

"But we already tried that!"

"And I've got news for you, Donnie. You're clueless when it comes to their chips – only I know them well enough to pull off that feat because _I_ made them. I'd like to brag right now, but I think we are missing an interesting fight," Douglas said, walking over to a cyber desk in the corner of his room. With a few keystrokes, he pulled up live video footage of what was going on in his lab, laughing manically. "And you know what, big brother? It's about to get even more interesting."


	19. Chapter 19

Bree dodged another lazy high kick easily, speeding to the other side of the room to give herself a moment away from the fight. She was surprised that Spike wasn't really into the duel – he seemed to be content chasing her around the room, simply playing with her as a cat would a mouse. She couldn't say she was complaining, though – it meant that she could hold her own until she might release Adam.

She watched Spike stalk up to her, daring her to attack him. He looked bored, and Bree was certain that he wasn't even trying very hard in the least. He just wanted to intimidate her.

But even as she watched with dread, she saw that dangerous spark come back into his eyes, and he tensed up with a newfound excitement. Playtime was over.

Spike suddenly came at her with all the fury of a hurricane, scoring hit after hit. Bree sped out of range of him, but he simply followed, using the super-speed he now possessed as well. He pressed attack after daunting attack, and Bree knew that it was a wonder that she wasn't beat yet. It was only a matter of time.

Bree ducked a left hook aimed at her face and sped off to the side, leading him across the room. But this time she didn't stop there; she kept running around the room, and a frustrated Spike followed.

"Running away, coward?" he taunted her, but to her satisfaction, she heard a startled grunt as the app hit the wall; he wasn't as good at controlling his bionic abilities yet. _That's it!_ Bree realized. _That's how I'm going to win._

Spike hadn't yet recovered from his hard impact with the wall, so Bree used that to her advantage. Using her speed and what strength she possessed, she shoved him to the middle of the room and began running around him at a high speed, trapping him in one of her cyclones. She looked on smugly as he began to cough, his super senses too sensitive to handle the dust she was kicking up.

But Spike was too smart for that – as soon as he figured out what was going on, he stuck his leg out without warning, effectively tripping Bree and sending her careening across the room with her own momentum. After getting his breath back, he sauntered over to the bionic, who was shaking off her own collision with the wall.

But she wasn't giving up yet – as he tried to attack her yet again, Bree slipped away from him, leaping to the ceiling and staying there.

"You want to play that game?" Spike asked, looking up at her with disdain. "Well guess what – I can play it to." He leapt up to the ceiling after her, but to his dismay, he simply fell back to the floor. Adam and Bree started laughing, and he roared at them, trying a second and a third time. But he just couldn't figure out how to hold on.

"Is little Spikey still a greenhorn when it comes to his bionics?" Bree goaded.

"Yeah, Spikey thought he could beat us at our own game!" Adam pitched in.

"Wow, I guess I was wrong about you, Spike," Bree said, mimicking Douglas' voice. "You really are incompetent. No more explosions for you!"

Spike looked up at her, quite startled. "How'd you do that?" he asked angrily.

"I can manipulate my vocal chords," she boasted. "Let me show you." She smirked down at him, saying in Spike's voice "I'm big bad Spike, and I can't even beat a girl in a fight!"

Spike roared in rage, using his molecular kinesis to throw a stool at her, but he missed grossly, sending it flying all the way across the room.

"Oops, you missed," Bree said, rubbing in his failure. Adam was laughing at this exchange, nearly doubled over with his forehead pressed against the glass.

"What are you cackling at, pea-brain?" Spike snarled at the oldest bionic. Adam was unable to answer due to his laughing fit, which only made Spike angrier. "We'll see how funny this is when you meet my fist!" With that, the app turned and punched the glass of the capsule, shattering it. He was visibly pleased by the looks of horror on the other two bionics' faces.

Before Spike could do anything to Adam, Bree dropped from the ceiling and grabbed another stool, speeding over to the app and whacking him over the head with it as hard as she could. Remaining frozen and without turning to her, he said menacingly "That was the last straw, princess." Using all the super speed and strength he possessed, he whipped around and his right fist connected with Bree's face, sending her careening backwards.

"Bree!" Adam screamed, and he glowered at the app, breathing hard. His eyes began to glow bright red and lasers shot from them towards Spike, who only smiled as he put up his force field. The oldest bionic rushed at the app, but Spike caught the oncoming fist and used Adam's momentum against him, sending him flying across the room much as Bree had only a minute before.

Adam groaned as he climbed to his feet, and he attempted to attack Spike again, who easily blocked every blow and returned them, delivering them heavier than Adam could ever dream of doing himself.

At this point Bree stumbled to her feet, looking around in a confused daze as she tried to rub herself warm again – Spike had gotten her with his cold shock as he had punched her. She watched in terrified fascination as Spike kicked Adam in the gut so hard that all Adam could do was gasp, falling to the ground in a heap. Spike turned on her now, fierce joy dancing in his eyes. He had won, and he knew it.

A bout of dizziness hit the bionic girl, and unable to remain standing, she collapsed. Blackness came across her vision even as the stars began to explode behind her eyes, and with that, she lost consciousness.

* * *

**AN: Yep. That just happened.**

**I would just like to say, kudos to daphrose for her impressive catch-up... it was really cool and also super funny to see my inbox practically explode! xD Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed... I'm running out of new ways to tell you all that you're awesome... 'cause you're all that awesome!**

**So yeah. Get ready for Chapter 20!**


	20. Chapter 20

"No! You monster!" Donald cried out as he watched Douglas turn up Spike's aggression. Just as Spike attacked Bree in a serious fight, Donald lunged at his younger brother. "Stop this right now, Douglas!" he shouted.

"Lighten up, Donnie, it's just for sport; I told Spike not to hurt them _too_ bad," Douglas said, side-stepping Donald.

"Do you really think Spike is going to listen to you?"

"Yes, because I told him that if he keeps them alive, he gets to beat them up every day."

"You are despicable!" Donald screeched, tackling his brother. The two rolled on the ground, exchanging blows, until they heard an aweful _crack!_ and saw that Douglas' tablet remote for Spike had been crushed.

"Oops, I guess we can't turn down Spike's aggression level now, can we?" Douglas sneered at a horrified Donald.

"_What_ have you _done?_" Donald asked breathlessly, looking back at the cyber desk screen in terror. "I may only be their biological uncle, but to me, they are my own children! You see them as only weapons, super soldiers you can make money off of, but they are my _children!_ And you have just signed their _death warrant!_"

"I told you, Spike isn't going to hurt them (that much)," Douglas argued.

"No, you're wrong about that. You may have created Spike in the first place, but you have _no clue_ what he's really like. He will _murder_ Adam and Bree without a second thought!"

"I promised him more fun if he lets them live!"

"You think he's thinking about that in the heat of battle? Spike is a ruthless warrior bent on destroying anyone he pleases!"

That statement made Douglas pause, worry flitting across his face. "I don't actually want to kill them," he said quietly.

"Well then we have to stop him! Don't tell me you didn't make a backup of that remote."

"Sorry Donnie, I only had a few days to work with," Douglas said, not looking at his older brother.

Donald moaned, saying "We need a way to interfere with his chip and shut him down."

At that statement, Douglas' eyes lit up, and he said "Ah ha! I know just what to do!"

Donald frowned, warily saying "Spit it out, already."

"I've got a nice little device that will interrupt the signal of their bionic chips –" Douglas began to say.

"Yeah, I've had one of those for years," Donald said boredly, cutting him off.

"Shut up! We'll just interrupt the signal from his chip and get him into one of the capsules, where we'll extract his chip."

"Good idea," Donald said sarcastically "but you forgot the part where it _fails_ because the signal interrupter increases Spike's aggression level even more."

"And that's where you and I will have to work together to take him down. And maybe Adam and Bree will be able to help us as well."

Donald simply stared at his brother before snorting, breaking into hysterical laughter. "That's the craziest thing I've ever heard you say, and that's saying something!"

"Do you have a better idea?" Douglas shot back.

After a moment, Donald sighed, rubbing his temples. "Just get the device."


	21. Chapter 21

"Freeze, Spike!" Donald shouted as he and Douglas stormed into the room, slamming the door open for effect.

"Oh goodie, a couple of easy targets to cool me down," Spike sneered, turning away from the fallen bionics. _So much for Bree and Adam helping us,_ Donald thought to himself grimly after he recovered from his initial shock and controlled his worry. He wouldn't be able to help Adam and Bree until Spike was defeated, so he had better focus on the task at hand.

"You wish," Douglas retaliated, pressing a button on his little remote.

Spike laughed, saying "Let's get on with it, ladies."

The brothers briefly made eye contact with each other in determination before looking back at the app smugly as he tried and failed to use his super speed.

"Hey! What's going on?" Spike bellowed, and without waiting for an answer, he charged at the tech moguls. But to his dismay, he found that his super strength was also gone. He was back at level one.

With Donald and Douglas working together, they gave the app a real run for his money. For every blow Spike dished out, he got two in return. And the brothers were not your ordinary tech moguls either – they were both quite skilled in the martial arts. It wasn't long before it turned into a competition.

"Ha! Did you see that hit?" Douglas bragged as his stiffened hand knocked back Spike's desperate swing, causing the app to momentarily lose his balance.

"No, because I was too busy taking him down with _this!_" Donald replied, making to round-house kick a still-recovering Spike, who just barely ducked out of the way.

Needless to say, for all Spike's fighting dexterity, he was no match for two of the finest marshal artists he'd ever meet (when they were working together), and the brothers made quick work of the commando app.

"That was easy," Donald commented, helping his younger brother drag the groaning commando-app-possessed-bionic to one of the capsules, where they shoved him inside and locked it up. Douglas promptly typed a few commands into his surprisingly undamaged cyber desk, and within moments, Chase's chip had been extracted.

With that taken care of, the two hurried over to Adam and Bree, who were still on the floor. Adam was awake, but Bree was out cold.

"Whoa, you two kicked _Spike's_ butt! I thought you'd be creamed!" Adam said in awe as he gingerly held his midsection.

"Thanks. I think," Donald Davenport said with a frown. "Are you alright?"

Adam winced, saying "I don't know, I think so."

Mr. Davenport bent over the oldest bionic, pressing in certain places. Adam hissed in pain a few times, and the billionaire concluded that there were several broken ribs, a sprained wrist, and minor internal bleeding.

Mr. Davenport went over to where Douglas was attending to Bree, asking "Is she alright?"

"Yes, but she's got a broken jaw, a few fractured bones, she probably has a slight concussion, and will have quite a bit of bruising," Douglas said reluctantly.

Mr. Davenport's countenance darkened, and he said quietly "Get out, Douglas. Get out of here."

"What about our teamwork thing just now?" Douglas whined.

"If you know what's good for you, get out of here and don't show your face to us ever again," Mr. Davenport growled, stepping towards his brother threateningly.

"Alright, alright, a guy can take a hint," Douglas sulked, and he got up and left without looking back.

"What's going on?" Mr. Davenport heard from behind him, and he turned to see Chase weakly leaning on the side of the capsule.

"It's alright, Chase, everything is fine now," Mr. Davenport said, walking over to the cyber desk to unlock the capsule door before going over to the youngest bionic, letting him out.

"What happened here?" Chase asked dimly, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

"What do you remember?" Mr. Davenport asked patiently.

Chase's face screwed up as he thought hard, saying "I was glitching a lot, I quarantined myself –" his eyes widened. "I went with Douglas so that he could remove Spike, but then I realized too late that he had tricked me! And that's the last thing I can remember," Chase said worriedly. "Where'd Douglas go? You let him go?" He looked down at his siblings, asking in horror "Did I do that?"

Mr. Davenport chose not to answer any of his questions, instead asking "Do you know how to get out of here?"

Chase shook his head.

Mr. Davenport sighed, saying "Stay here with your siblings and watch over them, I'll be right back. I'm going to go get Tasha and Leo."

"I didn't hurt them too, did I?" he asked, panicking.

"No, they're fine," Mr. Davenport assured him, quickly leaving before Chase could ask any more questions.

As the tech mogul jogged around the corner, he bumped into someone, who screamed in terror.

"Leo?" Mr. Davenport asked incredulously, and sure enough it was his step-son, clinging desperately to a large contraption. "Is that my new and improved cryoblaster?" the billionaire asked suspiciously.

"Oh, so that's what it is?" Tasha asked from behind her son. "We found it in the trunk of the car. Why was that in there?"

"Oh, uh, I forgot it in there after a tech conference," Mr. Davenport said, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably.

Leo seemed to have gotten his wits about him again, saying "I thought you were Spike!"

"No, we took care of Spike," Mr. Davenport said. "What do you two think you're doing?"

"We decided we were going to be helpful and guard the entrance – and we _were_ helpful there because we just blasted Douglas as he tried to escape!" Leo said proudly, puffing up his chest.

Mr. Davenport smacked his forehead, saying "I was letting him go!"

"You were? What for?" Leo asked in bewilderment.

"Long story," Mr. Davenport said without elucidation. "I guess this works to; he won't be going anywhere and getting himself in trouble again. Come on, I need your help getting Adam, Bree, and Chase out of here."

The other two nodded, following Mr. Davenport back to the lab. When they walked in, they were met with the sight of a distraught Chase, who was listening with shock to Adam's description of the last twenty minutes. When Adam saw them, he stopped talking; Chase, picking up from Adam that someone had come, looked over his shoulder and saw the rest of his family before quickly ducking his head.

"What happened?" Tasha exclaimed, looking at the injured bionics anxiously. She rushed over to them, looking ready to cry at the sight of Bree.

Leo was just as stunned, kneeling down next to Adam and Chase, asking "Are you guys okay? Is Bree okay?"

"I've got a few broken bones and bruises," Adam said with idiotic pride.

"I'm just bruised and kind of sore," Chase said shamefacedly.

"And Bree might have a concussion, broken bones, _and_ bruising," Adam added. Chase cringed.

"At least you're alive," Leo pointed out, and Chase looked away, taking deep breaths to remain calm and controlled. Leo tactfully didn't say anything else.

"The best thing we can do is get you three" Mr. Davenport gestured to the bionics "back to the lab. Adam and Bree will heal best in their capsules, but I'm not sure about what to do with you, Chase. If you don't keep your chip in, you'll die, and if we keep it in, you'll always be Spike," Mr. Davenport said apprehensively.

"No worries, Mr. Davenport," Chase said tiredly. "If I spend some quality time in my capsule, it will reset the settings on my chip to default."

"How do you know that?" Mr. Davenport asked.

"Well, Douglas told me," Chase said awkwardly. "He said that one of the reasons it didn't work when you tried to take out Spike is that you didn't also alter the settings for my capsule. It tried to fix the chip, and since it didn't finish, my chip was stuck in an in-between stage, so that's why I kept glitching."

"I don't know if we should trust anything his brother says," Leo said, looking at Mr. Davenport warily.

"Do we have anything to lose?" Chase asked. "If it doesn't work, I'll just go to another off-shore facility and stay there for good. No harm done."

His family (minus Bree) shared a knowing look, Mr. Davenport saying "No Chase, we won't send you away or let you isolate yourself again. We'll find a way to make it work."

"You really want to keep me around after the last couple days?" Chase asked, dumbfounded.

"It might seem like we don't care, but the last few days without you around was, well, _awful,_" Leo stated simply.

"Yeah, we didn't have anyone to pick on," Adam added humorously.

Chase scowled, but a look of confusion took over his facial expression. "A few _days?_"

"Um, yeah, Douglas took you three days ago," Leo said.

"I've been Spike for _days?_" Chase asked, swallowing at the implications. He groaned angrily. "Let's just get back home," he finally grumbled after a few moments of silence.


	22. Chapter 22

"What happened?" Chase asked in shock as they stopped short of the demolished house at the yellow police tape.

"Whoa, you finally turned the house invisible!" Adam marveled.

"No, Spike blew it up after he took you, Adam," Leo deadpanned.

"_What!_" Chase exclaimed disbelievingly. "Mr. Davenport, I am so sorry!" he apologized, but the billionaire only held up his hand.

"You didn't do it, Chase, it was Spike. If anyone is to blame, it's actually Douglas for doing that to you," Mr. Davenport assured him.

"Oh, we're playing the blame game now?" Adam asked excitedly. "I blame Leo! It's all Leo's fault!"

Leo only rolled his eyes, choosing not to say anything to that. The Davenport-Dooley family climbed out of the car and began picking their way carefully through the wreckage. It was still dark enough that they wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing them, so they didn't bother to do it stealthily.

"How do we know that the lab hasn't caved in already?" Chase asked.

"Because we were just down there an hour ago," Leo answered.

"Oh."

They found the place where the elevator was supposed to be, and with the aid of Adam's super strength, they were able to all make it down to the lab with little trouble. As soon as they were down there, Adam brought the still-unconscious Bree to her capsule and put her inside before hopping into his own. Chase grabbed his chip and watched Mr. Davenport prepare everything to put it back into his system before going into his capsule.

"When your chip goes back in, Spike and all his bionics are going to come back," Mr. Davenport warned. "I'm going to secure you're capsule so he can't break out."

"But Mr. Davenport, Spike broke Douglas' capsule, and those were strong enough to withstand _me!_" Adam pitched in.

"_What!_ You didn't tell us this before?" Leo chastised.

"You're one to talk," Mr. Davenport grunted, shooting Leo a look.

"Mr. Davenport, do you have a knock-out gas you can fill my capsule with? I think that's how Douglas was able to work on me in the first place," Chase said.

Mr. Davenport thought for a moment, nodding. "I think that will work." He started typing out commands, and before hitting the button that would put them in action, he said "For once, I hope Douglas is right."

He hit the button at that, and immediately Chase began glowing green as his chip was reinserted. Chase's facial expression grew dark, and with the characteristic Spike voice, he shouted "Hey! What's going on?"

Before the app could do anything, Mr. Davenport hit another button, and a moment later a dreamy look came over Spike's face, and he fell unconscious.

"And now we wait," Mr. Davenport said mildly.

* * *

Chase perked up as he heard the clambering of Mr. Davenport, Tasha, and Leo. A few minutes later he saw them drop down by their rope ladder they had put in, and they walked over to the bionics.

"Hey, how is everyone feeling?" Mr. Davenport asked loudly, waking Adam and Bree as he did so.

"Bree can talk again," Adam volunteered.

"Which is why I can say that myself," she said, rolling her eyes. "I think the worst of our injuries are healed."

"That's great news!" Tasha said.

"Yeah, it's a wonder what fifty-plus hours in a capsule will do for your average bionic teen," Leo stated.

"How about you, Chase?" Mr. Davenport asked.

"I think I'm back to normal," Chase replied truthfully, "but I think I lost my 'cold-shock' ability."

"That sounds about right – if you were truly reset, you shouldn't have kept it," Mr. Davenport said. "You will have to wait a little longer before you get it back."

There was a brief silence before Chase asked "Are you sure you can't remove Spike?"

"Yes, I'm positive," Mr. Davenport answered, looking at the youngest bionic seriously. "I don't want to risk any of this or something similar happening again."

Chase nodded, looking down in disappointment.

"I'm going to have the reconstruction of the house start this morning, so we came to take you three with us back to the hotel we're staying in. We'll bring you back here every night so that you can recharge and heal, and you all will start going to school again next Monday," Mr. Davenport instructed, and the teens groaned (except for Chase, of course).

"It's not like you haven't missed enough school already," Tasha pointed out in support of her husband.

With the conclusion of that conversation, Mr. Davenport went over to the cyber desk and typed in a command, and within seconds the bionics were dressed in ordinary clothes and ready to be seen in public.

"Come on everyone, we should get going before the construction crew arrives," Mr. Davenport said, unlocking the capsules, and the bionics stepped out and followed the others to the elevator shaft.

"Mr. Davenport, if you won't take Spike off my chip, he'll just keep coming back out," Chase said as they were climbing up the ladder.

"I know, and you don't need to worry about that," Mr. Davenport replied over his shoulder.

"Why not? He'll only keep terrorizing people."

"Yes, but if we learned anything from the last week, it's that Spike is not invincible," Mr. Davenport said. "We failed you before because we didn't know how to handle Spike, but I think – I know – we can all promise you that we won't fail you again."

"Really?"

"Yeah." There was a brief silence that followed, but it was broken once more by Chase.

"So, whatever happened to Douglas?" Chase asked.

"Oh, Leo and Tasha blasted him with my cryoblaster," Mr. Davenport answered. He heard snickering below him, and he looked down to see the youngest bionic with a grin on his face.

"Douglas _so_ deserved that – just like last time," Chase chuckled. "What are you going to do with him now?"

"Well, I've actually already done it. I locked him up in another of my top secret, totally secure, offshore facilities," Mr. Davenport said confidently.

"You know he's just going to get out again, right?" Chase deadpanned, looking unimpressed.

Mr. Davenport sighed. "Yes, but we'll at least have a little time before he can cause trouble again."

They climbed out of the nearly unrecognizable elevator shaft, and the Davenport-Dooley's paused, looking at the ruin around them.

"Before you know it, everything will be back to normal," Mr. Davenport said optimistically into the silence, and everyone nodded. After another look around, the family turned away into the rising sun of a new day and new adventures to come, ready for whatever the world threw at them next. Trouble would undoubtedly reappear, but this family would overcome it – together.

* * *

**AN: And that is the (somewhat abrupt) conclusion to this adventure... I am both relieved and sad. This was a fun story to write, and it was even more fun to share. All the support this story has received has been very heartwarming, I'm so glad you all enjoyed this! A special thanks to AllAmericanSlurp, CutiePie, daphrose, Dirtkid123, eikenbergemily, ereader12, Fanficlove23, frostdragon12, kittehx1, LabRatsFan07, PolarWolf13, ShyMusic, Sparklegirl9569, StarWarsRebelsEzra, tennisgirl77, The-One-And-Only-Gerbil, tiff.n.b36, 8thgradecowgirl, and all the various guests (or just one Guest) for the encouraging comments, good ideas, and immensely helpful critic!**

**Oh, and if anyone wants to explore some tangents and/or use themes from this story, feel free - I would be honored!**

**I am going to take the next week off, but then I will begin posting again; I have a couple more finished stories I am excited to share with you all! They are focused on humor, character development, and family bonding, so if you liked those components of this story, I'm pretty sure you'll like these. Oh, and there's action too, I suppose :P**

**Also, LabRatsFan07's idea for another Spike story is well underway! Thank you thank you _thank you_ for the awesome idea! So far it's pretty cool, and I can't wait to work on it more! If any of you have ideas for this story and/or would like to see certain events and Spike scenes, I am all ears! Feel free to post ideas in the reviews for this or any of my other stories, and/or send me a PM! All *clean* ideas are welcome! All other story ideas are welcome as well!**

**Okay, so you know how people will joke (or maybe not) with someone by telling them to get a life? Well, my friends frequently tell me to _lose_ a life xD Guess what? Several of them are 'ending' within the next couple weeks, so I can take my FanFiction life seriously now. So instead of struggling to find ten minutes to dedicate to posting the chapters of my stories, I can spend several hours writing, reading, and yes, _reviewing_ stories now. Score!**

**And that is it for this particularly long author's note from this soon-to-be-more-active author. Asori out.**


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